BERLIN (Reuters) - German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the Tagesspiegel daily that it was hard to imagine talks on a new bailout programme with Greece after the country clearly rejected bailout terms in a referendum.

"With the rejection of the rules of the euro zone ... negotiations about a programme worth billions are barely conceivable," said Gabriel, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives. "Tsipras and his government are leading the Greek people on a path of bitter abandonment and hopelessness," he said, adding Tsipras had "torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise".