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Tsipras begs Greeks to back austerity as time runs out

Following the vote, where many leftists in his own party were stunned by his acceptance of previously spurned austerity measures, Tsipras said he would now focus on securing a deal.

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Tsipras and his aides are working to finalize a reform plan before a Friday deadline.

A number of Syriza lawmakers have stated they will oppose the government’s proposals, but opposition parties have stated their intention to support the deal. But failure to deliver votes from his own government would likely topple his coalition. President Francois Hollande called the offer “serious and credible”.

But Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup president, said a deal was still a long way off.

(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti). Pensioners wait outside the main gate of the national bank of Greece to withdraw a maximum of 120 euros ($134) in central Athens, Thursday, July 9, 2015.

They included releasing European Central Bank profits on Greek bonds, tapping an emergency fund run by the European Commission, or bilateral loans from friendly countries such as France.

In Greece, government officials were confident their concessions would be accepted by the creditors. “Despite the difficulties which the Russian economy suffers, it has the ability to help its partner, but there is no such request from Athens, as I have repeatedly said”, Putin said. “It has been a mistake in communication to always say, ‘No, this is not going to happen, these are only loans.’ “.

But Merkel’s position enjoys support from other fiscally strong countries in northern Europe such as the Netherlands and Finland, and officials in eastern European countries such as the three Baltic nations that have pushed through their own painful reforms are sounding even tougher.

But some were furious at the deep spending cuts in the proposals.

Eurozone finance ministers are gathering in Brussels this afternoon, in what is being billed as the final opportunity to avoid Greece crashing out of the eurozone.

“If this is Europe, then we don’t want this Europe”, said Aristidis Dimoupulos, a marketing professor in Athens. “If in this life we’ll be slaves, it’s better to be dead”.

Greek banks have been closed since June 29, when capital controls were imposed and cash withdrawals rationed after the collapse of previous bailout talks.

Long lines snake from ATMs across the country, and many stores have stopped accepting debit cards. All money transfers overseas, including bill payments, were banned without special permission.

Mardas said the banks would be gradually restored to operation.

“The government even at this hour can and should respond to the institutions’ blackmail with the dilemma: either a programme without new austerity, with funding and a debt write-off or an exit from the euro and suspension of payments of the unjust and non viable debt“, the statement signed by five members of the party said.

Tsipras will now have to rush swathes of legislation through parliament this week to convince his 18 partners to release bridging funds to avert a state bankruptcy and just to begin negotiations on a three-year loan.

Parliament speaker Zoe Constantopoulou, Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and Deputy Labour Minister Dimitris Stratoulis also failed to endorse the government’s plans.

He said that developments in Greece affected Russian Federation, albeit in an indirect way.

Protesters who had backed a “yes” vote returned to the streets Thursday, with several thousand gathering outside parliament.

“We can not comment on their content yet”, Seibert told reporters after Athens submitted last-ditch reform plans to creditors overnight.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos reacts during a meeting with lawmakers of Syriza party at t …

Speaking in Washington, Lagarde said Greece needed to continue cost-cutting reforms, but added: “The other leg is debt restructuring, which we believe is needed … for debt sustainability”.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble added to the scepticism, saying: “We will have extremely difficult negotiations”.

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He also said the question of a write down is something of a red herring, because Greece is not actually paying very much in debt servicing at the moment.

Greek PM Tsipras faces party revolt over bailout deal