Greece Debt Crisis: The People Say “No” to EU Bailout

Partying on the streets of Athens overnight spelled out a Europe-wide hangover on Monday, after more than 61 percent of Greeks voted to reject tough economic bailout conditions. The final result in the referendum, published by the Interior Ministry, was 61.3% “No”, to 38.7% who voted “Yes”.

Greece’s governing Syriza party had been campaigning for a “No” vote, saying the bailout terms were humiliating. Their opponents warned that this could see Greece ejected from the Eurozone, and a summit of Eurozone heads of state was called for Tuesday.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Sunday evening that Greeks had voted for a “Europe of solidarity and democracy”.

While the poll marked a victory for Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, it threatened to further jeopardize the nation’s crippled economy as well as the future of the European currency.

All eyes now are on the European Central Bank to see whether it will maintain emergency funding for Greek lenders. The bank’s policy makers are expected to meet on Monday and if the funding is suspended, Greek banks will need to repay it quickly — which could be mean the country crashes out of the Eurozone.

Eurozone finance ministers say they expect to hear new proposals from Greece after the country voted to reject the terms of a bailout.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her French counterpart Francois Hollande also called on Greece to make “serious” proposals.

Meanwhile, Greek banks stayed closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. They had been due to reopen on Tuesday but the head of the Greek Banking Association, Louka Katseli, said the period had been extended following talks on Monday.

“I really hope that the Greek Government - if it wants to enter negotiations again - will accept that the other 18 member states of the Euro can’t just go along with an unconditional haircut, “ said Sigmar Gabriel, who is also Germany’s Vice-Chancellor.

At an earlier news conference in Brussels, the European Commission Vice-President for the Euro, Valdis Dombrovskis, said the Greek government needed to be “responsible and honest” with its people about the potential consequences of the decisions it was facing. But he said the stability of the eurozone was not in question, adding: “We have everything we need to manage the situation.”

Nini Gegidze