Greek Voters Reject Financial Bailout Plan
ATHENS, Greece, July 5 (UPI) — After weeks of posturing and refusals by Greece to accept to fiscal terms necessary to bail it out of deep fiscal trouble, Greek voters on Sunday effectively told creditors the same thing: Thanks, but no thanks.
As Greece continues to struggle to try and stay afloat amid its serious debt crisis, billions in financial relief offered by international creditors were rejected by a highly-anticipated voter referendum Sunday.
Sunday’s referendum on the bailout terms skewed heavily in the “no” column — exactly as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hoped — with the vast majority of the votes siding with the leader’s Syriza party.
Needing to pay a $1.7 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund by the end of June, but not having the cash to do so, Athens engaged in numerous negotiations over the last four months — hoping to strike a deal to unlock the remainder of $7 billion in relief cash previously granted by the organization. However, demands by creditors for Athens to cut government spending in exchange for the relief aid proved to be the deal breaker.
Tsipras repeatedly rejected the offers, saying the cuts would affect Greek workers’ wages and state-funded pensions.
The euro fell in Asia during early Monday trading and analysts expect more trouble after the referendum, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Last week, Greece defaulted on the loan and Tsipras, not wanting to uniformly reject help without public support, ordered Sunday’s referendum. By late Sunday, 60 percent had voted against the IMF’s bailout terms.
“I understand that voters have not given me a mandate against Europe, but a mandate for a sustainable future,” Tsipras previously said..
Greece’s Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, had said the referendum’s rejection could produce a new agreement within 24 hours because officials now need to act quickly for the Greek banking sector to resume functioning.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande spoke by telephone Sunday night and agreed the Greek voters’ decision must be respected,Pakistan’s Geo News reported.
“The Chancellor and the President are in favor of calling for a summit of eurozone heads of state and government heads on Tuesday,” a spokesman for the German government said.
Axel Schaefer, deputy parliamentary leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, called for an immediate meeting of EU heads of government on Monday, German news outlet N-TV reported.
“The situation is too serious to be left to finance ministers, ” he was also quoted as saying.
Before the vote, Tsipras urged the population to vote “no” on the offers from the European Commission, IMF and European Central Bank. Tsipras argued that a “no” vote would strengthen the Greek government’s position in negotiations.
The rejection, though, could mean harsh times ahead for the Mediterranean nation — including its departure from the Eurozone economic bloc. The country has a public debt of $361 billion from previous loans keeping the country afloat for the past five years. On June 30, Greece became the first developed nation in history to default on a loan from the IMF.
The crisis has also been accompanied by billions in bank withdrawals from Greek citizens, many of whom said they no longer have faith in officials’ ability to resolve the problem.
“The Greek people are sending the message that they are taking their lives into their own hands,” Tsipras said. “One can ignore a government’s will. Nobody can ignore a nation’s will.
Like Us on Facebook for more stories from GephardtDaily.com
