It's down to Athens to make realistic proposals: France's Sapin

WARSAW (Reuters) - The Greek government, after winning backing for its stance in Sunday's referendum, now has the capacity to submit realistic proposals in talks this week with euro zone creditors, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Monday.

"I think the Greek government, strong after the vote which was expressed on Sunday, is in a position to make proposals which are realistic, proposals which allow us to move forward," Sapin told reporters after meeting his German and Polish counterparts in Warsaw.

"But it has to take the initiative," he said. "It is from these proposals that we will learn in which direction Greece really wants to move."

He said both Athens and its euro zone partners have stated they do not want Greece to leave the single currency, but the task now was to make those declarations into reality.

(Reporting by Jakub Iglewski and Pawel Sobczak; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Marcin Goclowski)