Greeks defy Europe with overwhelming ‘No’ vote

Greeks defy Europe with overwhelming ‘No’ vote
Reuters/Daily Star/ July. 06, 2015

 ATHENS: Voters in Greece resoundingly rejected creditors’ demands for more austerity in return for rescue loans Sunday, backing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who insisted the vote would give him a stronger hand to reach a better deal.  The opposition accused Tsipras of jeopardizing the country’s membership in the 19-nation club that uses the euro and said a “Yes” vote was about keeping the common currency.  With 87 percent of the votes counted, the “No” side had more than 60 percent.  “Today we celebrate the victory of democracy,” Tsipras, who gambled the future of his 5-month-old left-wing government on the vote, said in an address to the nation.  Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Sunday night that creditors planned from the start to shut down banks to humiliate Greeks and force them to make a statement of contrition for showing that debt and loans are unsustainable.

On Sunday night’s result, he said that “‘No’ is a big ‘Yes’ to democratic Europe. It’s a no to the vision of Europe an infinite cage for its people. It is a loud yes to the vision of the eurozone as a common area of prosperity and social justice.” Thousands of government supporters gathered in central Athens in celebration, waving Greek flags and chanting “No, No, No.” “We don’t want austerity measures anymore, this has been happening for the last five years and it has driven so many into poverty, we simply can’t take any more austerity,” said Athens resident Yiannis Gkovesis, 26, holding a large Greek flag in the city’s main square.  Governing left-wing Syriza party Eurodeputy Dimitris Papadimoulis said that “Greek people are proving they want to remain in Europe” as equal members “and not as a debt colony.” The referendum was Greece’s first in 41 years.

Minister of State Nikos Papas, speaking on Alpha television, said it would be “wrong to link a ‘No’ result to an exit from the eurozone. If a ‘No’ prevails that will help us get a better agreement.”

Tsipras’ high-stakes brinkmanship with lenders from the eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund resulted in Greece defaulting on its debts this week and shutting down its banks to avoid their collapse.  He called the referendum last weekend, giving both sides just a week to campaign.  “Today, democracy is defeating fear … I am very optimistic,” Tsipras said earlier in the day after voting in in Athens.  European officials had openly urged Greeks to vote against the government’s recommendation. The leaders of Germany and France called for a European Union summit Tuesday to discuss the situation.

“I hope people say ‘Yes,’” European Parliament President Martin Schulz told German public radio.  “If after the referendum, the majority is a ‘No,’ they will have to introduce another currency because the euro will no longer be available for a means of payment.”  Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt was one of the first eurozone ministers to react to the initial results.  “This likely ‘No’ complicates matters,” he told Belgium’s VRT network, but insisted the door remained open to resume talks with the Greek government within hours.  The vote was held amid banking restrictions imposed last Monday to halt a bank run, with Greeks queuing up at ATMs across the country to withdraw a maximum 60 euros per day. Banks have been shut all week, and it is uncertain when they will reopen. Large lines once again formed at ATMs Sunday.

Daniel Tsangaridis, a 35-year-old Athens resident, said he didn’t expect banks to reopen soon, despite a government pledge that they would do so Tuesday.  “It’s not going to happen in the next 48 hours,” he said. “If the situation improves and we can have a deal, then the banks will open.”  The Syriza party came to power in January after a six-year recession. Since then, the standoff between Athens and its international lenders has grown more bitter, and early signs of some economic growth and recovering employment in Greece have disappeared.  The debt-wracked nation also suffered repeated ratings downgrades and lost access to billions of euros after its existing bailout deal expired last week.  Polls published Friday showed the two sides in a dead heat with an overwhelming majority – about 75 percent – wanting Greece to remain in the euro currency.

“Today, we Greeks decide on the fate of our country,” conservative opposition leader Antonis Samaras said. “We vote ‘Yes’ to Greece. We vote ‘Yes’ to Europe.”  The sense of urgency was palpable as Greeks struggled to decipher a convoluted referendum question after being bombarded with frenzied messages warning of the country’s swiftly approaching financial collapse. Neither result on Sunday, however, would lead to a clear answer on what Greece should do about its overstretched finances.  Greece is no longer in a bailout program since its previous package expired last Tuesday. It now has to negotiate a new one with its creditors that involves even more money for the government and banks and new economic austerity measures.  Despite the Greek government’s assertion that a “No” vote will not lead to a euro exit, most experts agree it would open up more uncertain financial outcomes.  A number of European politicians, including Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the top eurozone official, have said a “No” vote would jeopardize Greece’s place in the 19-nation eurozone. Investors are also likely to believe a “No” win increases the chance of a so-called “Grexit,” where Greece returns to its own old currency.

 Greece votes on high-stakes bailout referendum
By The Associated Press | Athens/Sunday, 5 July 2015/Greeks started casting ballots early Sunday in the closely watched bailout referendum, with opinion polls showing people evenly split on whether to accept creditors’ proposals for more austerity in exchange for rescue loans, or defiantly reject the deal. Polling stations are open until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT; noon EST). Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is gambling the future of his 5-month-old left-wing government on the snap poll – insisting that a “no” vote would strengthen his hand to negotiate a better deal with the country’s creditors, and a “yes” would be a capitulation to their harsh demands.The opposition accuses Tsipras of jeopardizing the country’s membership in the eurozone and says a “yes” vote is about keeping the common currency.

Tsipras’ high-stakes standoff with lenders- the European Union and the International Monetary Fund – resulted in Greece defaulting on its debts this past week and shutting down banks to avoid their collapse, and lose access to billions of euros after an existing bailout deal expired.The sense of urgency was palpable all week when Greeks struggled to decipher a convoluted referendum question while being bombarded with frenzied messages of impending doom or defiance. A series of polls published Friday at the end of a frantic weeklong campaign showed the two sides in a dead heat, with an incremental lead of the “yes” vote well within the margin of error. They also showed an overwhelming majority of people – about 75 percent – want Greece to remain in the euro currency. Aris Spiliotopoulos, a 22-year-old who is launching his own tourism start-up, said he believes the vote is about whether Greece choses to stay among the club of nations that uses the euro as their currency and ultimately whether the country opts to stay in the European Union itself. “I am voting ‘yes’ because I believe that my future and even my kids’ future, in twenty or thirty years from now, is in the eurozone and the European Union,” Spiliotopoulos said on the eve of the referendum.

Gym teacher Alkiviadis Kotsis said he is voting “no” because the country and its people simply can’t take more austerity. “No matter how many loans you take, you cannot get by if you don’t produce things. You can’t do anything,” he said.  No matter the referendum result, Tsipras faces a tough road ahead, fraught with uncertainty about whether he will be able to deliver an improved bailout agreement.  Yale University political science professor Stathis Kalyvas said the Greek government will face daunting challenges no matter which way the vote goes. In case of a “no” win, Kalyvas said the Greek government could be confronted with the refusal of other eurozone countries to negotiate a better deal because of their distrust of Tsipras. A “yes” win won’t mean a road to the negotiating table strewn with roses either, but would likely usher in a new government with a shot at negotiating an improved deal, Kalyvas said. He said if the European Union wants to keep Greece in the eurozone, it will have to come up with “a very generous plan” since the cost of the crisis has shot up to unanticipated levels. That was borne out by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who told daily Bild on Saturday that future negotiations between Greece and its creditors will be “very difficult,” because the country’s economic situation has worsened dramatically in recent weeks.

Schaeuble repeated the German government’s position that for a community like Europe to work, all countries need to abide by the rules. Meanwhile, Greece’s Finance Minister Yianis Varoufakis launched a salvo at other eurogroup nations, accusing them of holding out on a bailout deal to allow bank coffers to run dry so they could spring a “vile ultimatum” on the government to accept what he called a humiliating deal. Writing in the Saturday edition of daily Kathimerini, Varoufakis said other eurogroup members rejected Greece’s “honorable” counter-proposals and insisted on extracting “humility.”Varoufakis said accepting the creditors’ terms would be a “permanent condemnation” while rejecting it would offer the “only prospect for recovery.”With speculation swirling on the referendum’s impact on Tsipras’ government, Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis denied media reports that he would accept to lead a new “grand coalition” government.“The country has a prime minister who will have an even stronger popular mandate and support. I will serve this mandate on my part,” he said in a statement.