Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has said he will resign if there is a “Yes” vote in Sunday’s referendum over recent creditor proposals.
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“The situation is only getting worse, due to Greek government’s behaviour”, Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister, told the Dutch parliament in the Hague.
The Eurogroup on Wednesday said it was ending contact maintained with Greece on a daily basis until the referendum on a bailout proposal made to the country is held Sunday.
“Before the Eurogroup call ended, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), a body which helps support eurozone countries in difficulty, confirmed that the end of the bailout was imminent”.
The left-wing Greek government’s 11th-hour bid for an extension of its worldwide bailout and a two-year funding and debt restructuring program offered no concessions to creditors’ demands for economic reforms, reported by text seen by Reuters news agency.
He says that “if the “no” vote wins, we will continue to be open to talks”.
They also rejected a request to extend a Greek bailout programme which expired on Tuesday night. “There are no immediate consequences for France”.
“We are committed to avoid a catastrophe for Greece and difficulties for Europe and France”.
Mr Tsipras’ rejection of what he terms the “blackmail” of European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors demanding spending cuts and tax hikes has so angered Greece’s partners that there is no hope of reconciliation before Sunday.
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“Though these measures are painful – I don’t even know if Greeks can bear them – a “No” will lead to the (reintroduction of the) drachma, which means the immediate destruction of the country, something that I don’t want to consent to”, one of the MPs, Costas Damavolitis, told Greek television. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras confirmed Wednesday that the referendum would take place and that he would be backing the “No” campaign. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 1.34% and Germany’s DAX index rose 2.15% as European traders took Tsipras’ flip-flopping as a hopeful sign that a worsening of the crisis can be averted.
