ROME: The Greek Prime Minister said failure to reach a deal to rescue Greece from a looming default would be the "beginning of the end" for the eurozone, an Italian daily reported Tuesday.
Asked by the newspaper Corriere della Sera if a failure to agree on the rescue deal, meaning that Greece would soon likely default on its debts, would also be a failure for Europe, Alexis Tsipras said: "I think that is evident. It would be the beginning of the end for the eurozone".
Greece needs to unlock some 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) in rescue funds in order to be able to repay 1.6 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund by June 30.
A default might trigger a series of events that could result in a messy exit from the euro.
The prospect of a Greek euro exit, or so-called Grexit, no longer appears to spook European policymakers, as other eurozone nations are in far better shape and the ECB is engaged in a massive programme of buying up government debt.
But some economists are still concerned that the precedent of a country leaving the euro might come back to haunt the eurozone as other countries facing difficulties might feel the heat in the markets.
This is the concern that Tsipras raised in his exclusive interview with the Corriere della Sera.
"If European leaders can't resolve a problem like Greece, which represents two percent of their economy, what will be the reaction of the markets for countries facing much bigger problems, like Spain or Italy which has a public debt of more than two trillion euros," he said.
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