Greece now wants 'common ground' with creditors: finance minister

Greece will now look for "common ground" with its creditors that entails an end to austerity and a debt restructuring, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Sunday after his government triumphed in a referendum.

The overwhelming 'No' in the plebiscite, asking voters if they would accept stringent terms from the international creditors, was a rejection of an "iron cage" placed around Greece, Varoufakis said in a televised address.

"Today's 'No' is a big 'Yes' to democratic Europe. A 'No' to a vision of the eurozone as a boundless iron cage for its people," he said.

Strengthened by the result, he added, the radical left government would now extend a "hand of cooperation" to its creditors, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"From tomorrow, Europe, whose heart tonight beats in Greece, starts healing its wounds, our wounds," the maverick economist said.

An official tally of over half the ballots cast showed a resounding 61 percent of Greek voters had backed the government's 'No' in the plebiscite.

Senior eurozone officials were to hold talks on Monday to discuss the result, a European source told AFP.

France's President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were to meet in Paris the same day to assess the result, the French presidency said.

Hollande also spoke with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras by telephone late Sunday.