While Tsipras has urged voters to rebel against the country s worldwide creditors, European Union leaders have warned a No vote could mean Greece s exit from the euro.
Advertisement
“Nothing else is relevant for us”, he told a news conference following a speech.
The decision at a meeting Wednesday of the ECB’s governing council largely keeps Greek banks in limbo: They can’t borrow additional central bank money to finance deposit outflows; but they won’t have to repay the existing stock of loans either.
“It is hard to say how the markets will react if an agreement is not reached, and this is important when talking about consequences to Greece”, said Constancio.
“If the result will be a yes, then it’s the opposite”, he said.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis played down concerns the deepening crisis following the European Central Bank s decision to cap emergency funding could force the banking sector to its knees.
The stress tests would need to incorporate derivative positions and shadow banks’ exposure to liquidity shocks, which would help give a more complete picture of the resilience of the financial system as a whole, he said.
Unfortunately for Greeks, the ECB has frozen the ELA cap, meaning that as of last Sunday, Greek banks were no longer able to meet deposit outflows by tapping emergency liquidity from the Bank of Greece.
Tightening the ELA would have forced Greece to lower its 60 euros-a-day ($66) limit on cash withdrawals.
Advertisement
Asked if the ECB would grant the assistance to Greek banks in the event of a “No” vote, Constancio said: “I can not in advance answer that question”.
