Greece may hold new vote on economic policies: Minister
Greece’s Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis says the country may hold fresh elections to allow Greeks to have the final say on the hard-left Syriza government’s economic policy.
“Those who imagine that the current government is an interlude ... are wrong; the people spoke and, if necessary, will do it again,” Voutsis said during a Saturday debate in parliament on a decree, under which public institutions must give their cash reserves to the Central Bank.
Athens’ decree, which needs parliament approval, would allow the cash-strapped country to pay civil servants’ wages and service the public debt amid negotiations with its international creditors on the reforms required in return for bailout funds.
However, the measure has been denounced as “unconstitutional” by opposition parties, led by the center-right New Democracy and the social-democratic Pasok.
Last month, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis also raised the possibility of holding new elections or a referendum on any new agreement with the so-called troika of international lenders -- the European Central Bank (ECB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission.
The development comes as an end-of-April deadline draws near for the leftist Greek government to reach a deal with its creditors to unblock bailout funds and avoid defaulting on its sovereign debt.
Greece wants the last tranche of its bailout, worth € 7.2 billion (USD 7.8 billion), to be unlocked to repay its debts to the IMF and the ECB.
Eurozone’s other member states have rebuked Athens for its slow progress on agreeing reforms needed to receive the bailout cash.
Greece was given two bailouts in 2010 and 2012 worth a total of € 240 billion (USD 272 billion) from the international lenders following Greece’s 2009 economic crisis.
MR/MKA/HMV
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