Eurogroup reeling as Tsipras calls referendum

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.com/en/eurogroup-reeling-as-tsipras-calls-referendum/a-18544409

Eurozone finance ministers preparing to discuss Greece on Saturday have a new consideration. Prime Minister Tsipras announced a referendum on the country's next steps should an agreement be reached in Brussels.

Eurogroup reeling as Tsipras calls referendum
27.06.2015

Hours before the 19 eurozone finance ministers were set to meet, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece would hold a July 5 referendum following the outcome of negotiations with international creditors taking place in Brussels. Tsipras spoke amid heightened anxiety over a possible June 30 default, which could spark Greece's losing the euro currency - and even its EU membership.

The prime minister said his government had sought "a viable agreement that respects democracy" in its negotiations with international creditors and eurozone partners, but that ultimately "the people must decide free of any blackmail." He added: "This is a historic responsibility that now appears for us to decide the future of the country."

The creditors are withholding the payout of the next 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in Greece's emergency loan package. Greece needs to make a 1.6-billion-euro repayment to the International Monetary Fund by the end of the month.

'A historic responsibility'

Angela Merkel urged Greece to accept the latest "extraordinarily generous" offer from creditors. However, Tsipras, who met with the chancellor at a two-day EU leaders' summit, had said he would refuse ultimatums and that the creditors' proposals "clearly violate European social rules and fundamental rights."

[unhappycamper]

1. The July 5 referendum is problematic

http://www.dw.com/en/no-plan-b-if-greece-goes-bankrupt-says-angela-merkel/a-18543508

No plans have been fleshed out in case Greece goes bankrupt, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. EU Council President Donald Tusk has meanwhile warned of "game over" if a decision is not made before June 30.

'No Plan B' if Greece goes bankrupt, says Angela Merkel
26.06.2015

European Union leaders had not discussed any elaborate plans in the event that Greece went bankrupt, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said. She was answering a question by reporters in Brussels as to whether any "Plan B" had been discussed if no agreement was reached by the end of this month.

She also urged Greece's leaders to accept the "extraordinarily generous offer from the institutions," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB), after she and French President Francois Hollande met with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The meeting of eurozone finance ministers over the weekend would be decisive, she said.

'Game over'

The IMF and the ECB have offered at least 12 billion euros ($13.4 billion) as rescue funds over the next five months. Athens, however, has gone on the offensive against its creditors, with Tsipras asserting that the "European Union founding principles were a democracy, solidarity, equality and mutual respect. It was not based on blackmail and ultimatums."

Whereupon European Council President Donald Tusk retorted: "It is not political blackmail when we repeat day after day that we are very close to this day (June 30) when the game is over."

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Genius political move for him.

Anything he did entirely on his own was going to be viewed as 'his', and he would get the blame for any bad outcomes. Now he's going to be largely off the hook, as he can point to the referendum and say 'ultimately, the voters decided'. May or may not wind up a good thing for Greece, but it also gives the people the power in their own future.