Greek failure to make IMF payment deals historic blow to eurozone

Athens left without financial lifeline following fortnight of non-stop brinkmanship at highest level of EU leadership

Greece was left alone, insolvent and almost bankrupt after five years of a240bn (170bn) in European bailouts dried up and the country became the first in the EU to default on its creditors. The country failed to make a a1.5bn payment to the International Monetary Fund on time and has thrust the eurozone into an emergency.

The long-running debt debacle left Greece on the brink of financial collapse, worsening recent years of wrenching austerity, and represented a historic blow to a Europe committed to the irreversibility of its 16-year-old single currency.