Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis gave a press conference in Brussels following the emergency Eurogroup meeting on Greece. He told reporters that Greece could not accept the proposals of Greece from its lenders, adding that only the Greek people were in a condition to decide on the deal through a referendum that was not about the euro but about reforms for Greece. Furthermore, he said that exit from the eurozone was not possible as there are no provisions for such an event.

Varoufakis criticized Greece’s creditors for trying to drag Greece back to its old bailout terms rather than giving it leeway to breath and return to growth.

He concluded his speech by attacking the other Eurozone ministers:

The refusal of the eurogroup today to endorse our request for an extension of this agreement for a few days, a couple of weeks, to allow the Greek people to vote on their proposals – even when there is a very high probability that Greeks will go against our recommendation and vote yes – will certainly damage the credibility of the eurogroup as a democratic union of partner member state.

I’m very much afraid that damage will be permanent.