Hollande calls on Greece's Tsipras to rapidly resume debt talks to avoid turmoil

French President Francois Hollande on Monday urged Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to resume "as soon as possible negotiations" with international lenders after new talks at the weekend to rescue Greece from default failed.

On the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of the 51st International Paris Air and Space Show at le Bourget Airport in northern Paris, Hollande stressed "Do not waste time, resume the negotiations as soon as possible," warning of "a period of turmoil if an accord on Greece debt is not reached."

"We have an extremely short deadline. Greece must not wait, and resume negotiations with the creditors," the French leader added.

During a fresh round of negotiations held in Brussels on Sunday, international creditors and Athens failed to bridge gaps between the Greek reform plan and the lenders' requirements.

In a meeting widely seen as the country's last chance to avoid default, the 19-nation Eurogroup, made up of finance ministers in the eurozone, will seek on Thursday to strike a deal before Greece's EU bailout expires at the end of June.

Five years ago, Athens received a 240-billion-euro rescue package (about 269 billion U.S. dollars) under Europe's bailout program to meet its financing needs. Last February, the lenders agreed to extend the bailout.

If the due talks were to fail, Greece, whose debt exceeds 320 billion euros, or 175 percent of its GDP, risks a default and exit from the eurozone.

At a press meeting earlier in the day, EU spokeswoman Annika Breidthardt said the EU and the IMF have already made "major concessions" to Greece to end the dispute, adding "the flexibility that has been shown are already quite substantial." (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endite