Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected European warnings that Greeks will be deciding on their future in the Eurozone in a referendum on Sunday, saying negotiations would continue for a better deal with international creditors after the vote.
In a televised address on Friday, Tsipras said a report by the International Monetary Fund — which argued that Greece’s massive public debt could not be sustained without significant writedowns — vindicated his advice to reject the lenders’ terms. Repeating his assault on European partners he accused of blackmailing and issuing ultimatums to Greece, the Leftist leader called for calm ahead of Sunday’s ballot, as two opinion polls showed the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ camps neck-and-neck.
“On Sunday what is at stake is not Greece’s membership of Europe, what is at stake is whether blackmail will lead us to accept the continuation of a policy which the lenders themselves recognise is a dead end,” he said. “On Sunday what is at stake is whether we will give our consent to the slow death of the economy.”
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble dismissed Tsipras’ version that his government would be able to move smoothly to negotiate more favourable terms if Greeks backed his rejection.
Meanwhile, Greece’s highest administrative court is to decide on the constitutionality of the referendum on Friday. — Reuters
