World Leaders Brace For Greek Debt Vote Fallout

WASHINGTON -- Leaders across the globe are preparing for the fallout from the Greek vote Sunday to decline austerity measures in exchange for a bailout. The repercussions from the Greek decision could be widespread, particularly throughout Europe where the future of the euro is likely to be called into question.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to travel to meet with French President Francois Hollande in Paris Monday to discuss their next move after the vote. Merkel has played a key role as the European leader in the forefront, working to hold the European Union together and urging Greece to accept austerity measures in exchange for a bailout.

The two leaders described their scheduled working dinner as being part of their combined response. Merkel’s office described it as a "joint assessment of the situation after the Greek referendum and to continue the close German-French cooperation on this issue," the Associated Press reported.

The vote in Greece won’t bring an end to the discussions about a bailout from the European Union. Top government officials, including Greek negotiator Nikos Pappas, are preparing to return to Brussels and continue negotiations on a bailout, the Guardian reported.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has warned that no matter the outcome, the eurozone must follow the rules it established to preserve its continued existence. "Europe has always shown its solidarity with Greece, but the euro cannot be an 'a la carte' club in which you can pick and choose," Rajoy said, according to the Associated Press. "Greece needs to grow, create jobs, and to do so, it must have policies that work to that effect. Demagogy always ends up crashing into reality."

There still may be time for the world to prevail upon the Greeks to accept some type of bailout and prevent a full default on their debts. Unicredit chief economist Erik F. Nielsen warned the markets may remain “wobbly” but may not react immediately to the vote, Agence France-Presse reported. "July 20 is the really critical day because of the 3.5 billion [euro]-redemption on bonds and 750 million [euros] of coupons, held by the ECB. All reports suggest that they don’t have this money, so this may be the day that goes down in history," Nielsen said.

In the United States, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have largely remained silent on what should happen next with the Greeks. American analysts have suggested the U.S. wouldn’t feel deep, painful fallout if the Greeks were to withdraw from using the euro. Obama has held several phone calls with leaders of European nations in the last week to discuss the matter.

“Our belief is that all sides should work together to get back on a path that will allow Greece to resume reforms, return to growth and achieve debt sustainability within the eurozone,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Thursday. “We believe that continues to be in the best interest of Greece, Europe and the global economy.”