Greek tragedy unfolds at Cannes

Cannes, the world's premier film-festival city, does not usually play host to Greek tragedies, but the economic crisis engulfing Europe, thanks to the Greek crisis, is playing out to be a tragedy of Grecian proportions.

Prime minister George Papandreou, slammed by European leaders for having betrayed them by announcing a referendum on whether Greece should stay in the euro, is finding himself marooned on a lonely island as close lieutenants are also abandoning him.

Leaders of the G20 group of rich and emerging nations – including prime minister Manmohan Singh – are meeting in Cannes at a two-day summit that opened on Thursday.

But Greece will be the focus of the meet, with European leaders including French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel already setting the stage with a stern warning to the Greek leader the previous night.

Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg and chairman of the euro zone finance ministers, told the media that European leaders were considering a possible exit of Greece from the euro zone in case the country voted 'no' in a referendum. ''We are working on the subject of how to ensure there is no disaster for the people in Germany, Luxembourg, the euro zone,'' he said. ''We are absolutely prepared for the situation.''

Ominously, he warned that ''Greece is something we can get over, something we can live without.'' While the European leaders wanted to keep Greece as a member, it would not do so ''at any price.''