Long lines in Greece as banks reopen

ATHENS, Greece - Eurozone finance ministers were set to weigh Greece's latest proposal for aid today, hours after the country's international bailout expired without a deal, cutting it off from vital financing and deepening fears over whether it will be able to remain in the eurozone.

With its failure to repay the roughly 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the International Monetary Fund, Greece became the first developed country to fall into arrears on payments to the fund. The last country to do so was Zimbabwe in 2001.

Today's teleconference of eurozone finance ministers was to take place after the ministers said late Tuesday there was no way they could reach a deal to extend the bailout for Greece before the midnight deadline.

"It would be crazy to extend the program," Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who heads the eurozone finance ministers' body known as the eurogroup, said late Tuesday. "So that cannot happen and will not happen."

As Greece's leaders pushed new terms for a possible third bailout, they also struggled to cope with the consequences of shutting banks and the stock market this week.

Long lines formed as 1,000 bank branches around the country were ordered by the government to reopen Wednesday to help desperate pensioners without ATM cards cash up to 120 euros ($134) from their retirement checks. The elderly have been hit particularly hard, with tens of thousands of pensions unpaid as of Tuesday afternoon.

The expiration of the international bailout followed a tense weekend during which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced he would put a deal proposal by Greece's international creditors to a referendum on Sunday and urged a "No" vote.

The move increased fears the country could soon fall out of the euro currency bloc and Greeks rushed to pull money out of ATMs, leading the government to shutter its banks Monday and impose restrictions on banking transactions for at least a week. Greeks are now limited to ATM withdrawals of 60 euros ($67) a day and cannot send money abroad or make international payments without special permission.

But in a surprise move late Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis hinted that the government might be open to calling off the popular vote, saying it was a political decision.

The government decided on the referendum, he said on state television, "and it can make a decision on something else." It was unclear, however, how that would be possible as Parliament has already voted for the referendum to go ahead.

With its economy teetering on the brink, Greece suffered its second sovereign downgrade in as many days Tuesday when the Fitch ratings agency lowered it further into junk status, to just one notch above the level where it considers default inevitable.

The agency said the breakdown of negotiations "has significantly increased the risk that Greece will not be able to honor its debt obligations in the coming months, including bonds held by the private sector."