Rania Antonopoulos, Greece’s employment minister, reiterated Greece’s determination not to leave the eurozone in an interview with the BBC on Monday, describing it as the “worst possible outcome”.
Advertisement
His appointment is hardly out of the blue.
The Greek government named Euclid Tsakalotos as the new finance minister.
Greek voters’ resounding rejection of worldwide creditors’ demands may have strengthened the hand of their prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, who rose to power promising to halt painful austerity measures imposed in the bailout.
That meeting is meant to seek the basis for a deal that European leaders, including Ms Tsipras, might discuss at an emergency summit later in the day.
However, he added that Chancellor Angela Merkel was prepared to hold talks with Mr Tsipras. Tsipras needs the bailout talks to make rapid progress so Greece can get access to money that will prevent the banks going bust and safeguard the country’s euro future.
The government had initially pledged to reopen Greek banks tomorrow (Tuesday) but the head of the Greek banking association said they would stay closed tomorrow and on Wednesday.
“Ultimately, it will be the responsibility of the Europeans to resolve it”, he said.
Homeless sleep on the ground in central Athens, Monday, July 6, 2015. They now face not only the matter of Greek debt, but the fate of the euro.
The European Central Bank (ECB) kept a tight funding grip on Greece’s banks today in a move that will see the country’s shuttered banks run out of cash soon. “But there is no escape from the Greek labyrinth with a Europe that’s weak and isn’t growing”.
The fear for the Germans and French is that if Greece defaults, other eurozone countries with weaker economies like Spain or Ireland could be next.
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti). A man tries to locate the place to cast his vote at a polling station in Athens, Sunday, July 5, 2015.
In Sunday’s referendum, Greece overwhelmingly rejected a European bailout package that would have forced the country to accept further tax increases and spending cuts in return for billions of euros in financial support.
Varoufakis appeared to be the first casualty of the Greek government’s attempt to reach a deal with creditors.
“I will ask the president to convene a meeting of political leaders on Monday morning”, he said.
The meeting comes just hours after Greece’s outspoken finance minister Yanis Varoufakis resigned.
“I believe such a result can be used as a strong negotiating tool so that Europeans can understand that we are not a colony”, said Nefeli Dimou, a 23-year-old student in Athens.
France’s finance minister, Michel Sapin, indicated that discussing Greece’s debt is not taboo, saying the country could not recover with its current obligations “in the months and years to come”. They are also at odds with Germany’s position as the eurozone’s fiscal hawk opposing debt relief.
Advertisement
Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s vice chancellor and economic minister, told a German newspaper that the Greek government is leading its people “onto a path of bitter austerity and hopelessness”.
