French Finance Minister Michel Sapin on Saturday said Greece's place was firmly inside the eurozone despite a decision by his eurozone counterparts to end the country's bailout programme on June 30, thrusting Athens towards a default.

"The destiny of Greece is to remain in the eurozone and no other country wants Greece to leave the eurozone," Sapin told reports at the end of a eurozone ministers' meeting to discuss Greece ahead of a key June 30 debt payment deadline.

"France is available at any moment to make sure that in the hours that come, in the days that come, before the 30th, after the 30th, we can retake the dialogue that is necessary including, and above all, with Greece," Sapin said.

"There was no option today about whether Greece is no longer a euro member. Maybe that will be a consequence of the referendum," he added.

Member states "are today a lot more solid... That is not a reason to let Greece leave the eurozone, because that is not what we want," he said.

"The 18 countries said clearly that Greece is in the euro, that it must stay in the euro, no matter the difficulties of the moment."
Source: AFP