Varoufakis also said “yes, we may very well” resign and handover to a caretaker administration. “‘No’ does not mean a rupture with Europe”.
Advertisement
Any talks on a new programme would have to start from scratch with different conditions, he told a news conference in Berlin.
Capital controls will remain in place until at least next Tuesday.
“Europe’s top official in charge of the euro said the question being put to the Greek people was “neither factually nor legally correct””.
“The world is watching us”.
(AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos). Demonstrators shout slogans during a rally by supporters of the “No” vote to the upcoming referendum in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Wednesday, July 1, 2015.
Greece’s economic partners in the 19-country eurozone appear to be withstanding the escalation of the Greek debt crisis, with business activity rising to a four-year high in the second-quarter of the year, according to financial information company Markit.
She said Tsipras took too long to shut down the banks.
Germans are divided on whether Greece should stay in the eurozone. “The future of Europe would be at stake if we forgot who we are and what makes us strong – a community based on rules and responsibility”.
The Fitch ratings agency Tuesday downgraded Greece’s credit rating further into “junk” status, meaning it considers the country likely to default on private debt.
That’s because Greece has nearly run out of money, and only Europe can save it.
After this Sunday, the next key date to watch in July 20, when a 3.5 billion euro payment to the European Central Bank is due.
In Athens, crowds of anxious elderly Greeks thronged banks Wednesday beginning before dawn, struggling to withdraw their maximum of 120 euros ($134) for the week after the government reopened some banks to help pensioners who don’t have bank cards.
“It would be very hard for me to vote yes… even those who are going to, know that the austerity has not solved anything”, jounalist Kostas Zafiropulos told teleSUR.
Still, there was some good news: Amid more chaotic scenes outside closed banks in Athens and elsewhere, the terms of its emergency $100 billion cash support were left unchanged.
Dimitris Belantis is one of those seeking to ensure the vote goes ahead.
Ministers also agreed to “take note” of a letter from Tsipras that emerged Wednesday telling creditors he was ready to accept terms they offered at the weekend, as long as they included a Value-Added Tax discount for Greek islands and postponing pension reform, he said.
The country’s Communist Party has described the deal as “the worst bailout” ever and accused the prime minister of “shamefully fooling the Greek people”.
He further accused Europe’s financial leaders of “blackmail”, saying it was “shameful” that Greek banks were forced to close over the debt crisis.
Though the poll by ALCO for To Ethnos newspaper found Greeks evenly divided on the question that’s actually being put forward in Sunday’s referendum, it found a clear majority in favor of the country staying in the euro.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis indicated late Tuesday that the referendum might be scrapped, if a deal could be reached.
The Greek minister claimed that the five-month negotiations had stalled “because Greece’s creditors refused to reduce our unpayable public debt and insisted that it should be repaid “parametrically” by the weakest members of our society: their children, and their grandchildren”.
Advertisement
Hollande says “the consequences are not the same if it’s a yes or no. If it’s the yes, even if it’s on the basis of proposals that have already expired, negotiations can resume and I imagine be quickly concluded”.
