But even that, for Greeks (and interested observers), is not a straightforward proposition because the ballot-paper question they will be asked to answer is far from easy to understand. “If the Greek people want to proceed with austerity plans in perpetuity, which will leave us unable to lift our head, we will respect it, but we will not be the ones to carry it out”, Tsipras said this week. “‘No’ does not mean a rupture with Europe”.
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Saturday, June 27: Tsipras surprises creditors by declaring that a referendum will be held on whether or not to accept the stringent terms of the latest round of bailout aid.
“Before the referendum Germany can’t negotiate a new request” for assistance, Merkel was quoted as saying by a lawmaker of her conservative Christian Democrats.
Weve been going through this crisis over the last five years and we had nothing to eat, our pensions and our wages have been slashed and some made a profit off us, said pensioner Koula Makri in a bank queue.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said Tuesday the Greek financial crisis is “an issue of substantial concern”, but one that affects Europe more than the United States.
“The world is watching us”.
In the Bloomberg interview, he also explained why he’s so frustrated with the Eurogroup’s refusal to let Greece restructure its debts, which even the global Monetary Fund has admitted are unsustainable.
If Greece votes “no” it would nearly certainly lead to its exit from the eurozone, the so-called “Grexit” scenario.
She said Tsipras took too long to shut down the banks. In short, they should prepare to give Greece, post-Tsipras, most of what Tsipras has been asking for: a milder profile of fiscal consolidation, greater latitude in putting the program in place and debt relief. Greece has been living on borrowed money for a while now, and time has run out.
In a sign of serious financial deterioration, Greece suffered another sovereign downgrade Wednesday night, the fourth this week.
ATMS are still only dispensing 60 euros to rest of the population.
In Athens, crowds of anxious elderly Greeks thronged banks for hours from before dawn, struggling to be allowed 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 was unclear, however, how that would be possible as Parliament has already voted for the referendum to go ahead.
Earlier in the week, the European Central Bank refused to increase emergency funding. Polls show the “no” vote remains ahead, but that the gap is narrowing.
I’m outside the Maximos Mansion in Athens where Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is getting ready to stage a climb-down and he will tell them he’s about to accept something very very similar to the conditional bail out he rejected on Friday. The prime minister is due to explain his offer to Greeks in a televised address later Wednesday.
The anti-capitalist Antarsya bloc also issued a blistering attack, saying whatever it was called, the accord would further impoverish Greeks.
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The impasse left billions bailout money frozen or canceled and saw Greece forced to close banks and its stock market for at least a week, while the country’s left-wing government called a referendum urging voters to denounce the previous deal offered by creditors.
