Greece heads for fresh elections after coalition talks fail Party spokesman Panos Skourletis said: "It is obvious that there is an effort to bring about a government that will implement the bailout. We are not participating in such a government. Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece's New Democracy party, believes Greece is becoming isolated and must secure its future in the euro in new elections. "Our future is under threat," Mr Samaras said in comments televised on state-run NET TV. We will not lay down our arms. Europe understands now that one-way austerity destroys growth. President Carolos Papoulias has called a meeting for 10am (GMT) on Wednesday with all party leaders to put in place an interim government to run the country until fresh elections, expected on June 10 or 17. The failure of the talks weakens already ebbing confidence in Greece's ability to remain in the euro. On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Greece may be forced to leave the single currency if it refused to implement spending cuts agreed with the European Union - something Syriza has said it will do. One outgoing Greek minister has even warned that the country could descend into "civil war" amid the chaos of a euro exit. European shares gave up earlier gains to fall to their lowest level since the start of 2012, with the Athens stock market falling 4.4pc to hit its lowest level for 20 years. Figures out on Tuesday showed the country's economy shrank 6.2pc in the first quarter of 2012. At 3pm, the FTSE 100 had fallen 0.4pc, the DAX was down 0.9pc, the CAC was off 0.4pc, the Spanish IBEX dropped 1.3pc and the Italian MIB lost 1.6pc. The yield on Greek 10-year bonds soared 110 basis points to 27.4pc on the news, with Italian and Spanish yields jumping 10 and eight points respectively. Earlier on Tuesday, Greece assured investors will repay €435m in maturing debt, covering private creditors who had refused to take part in an unprecedented write-down under an EU-IMF bailout. The decision to repay was "above all Greek," a source told AP, who asked not to be named.