Greece’s finance minister says debt deal ‘in the offing’
The Greek finance minister says Athens will soon strike a deal with its international creditors.
“Whether there is a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No,’ an agreement is in the offing,” Yanis Varoufakis said on Friday, referring to a referendum on Sunday on the terms of a bailout deal for Greece.
The plebiscite will determine whether the government should agree to the creditors’ demands for tougher austerity measures in return for bailout funds to the cash-strapped country.
“A deal is more or less done,” Varoufakis said, adding, “If there’s a ‘Yes,’ the Greek government is simply going to sign on the dotted line.” If the Greeks vote against the demands, the finance minister said, “I can assure you that during this week of impasse we’ve had some very decent proposals coming from official Europe, confidentially.”
Greece and its international creditors stopped negotiations last week when Athens rejected the latest proposals by the lenders and said it would hold a referendum on July 5 on the terms of the deal.
Face-off over referendum
Meanwhile, two separate judicial cases have been opened in Greece, one for, and the other against the referendum. Two private citizens are seeking to have the Sunday referendum ruled unconstitutional and canceled, while a separate group has filed a counter-motion supporting the legality of the vote.
Meanwhile, ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ supporters have been holding rallies and counter-rallies across Greece.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged Greeks to vote ‘No’ to the proposals demanded by the international creditors.
Tsipras believes a ‘No’ vote would not only have no impact on Greece’s eurozone or European Union status, but would also exert added pressure on the international creditors to provide Athens with a better, more economically viable deal.
“A ‘No’ vote does not signify a cut with Europe, but a return to the Europe of values,” Tsipras said.
So far, Greece has received two bailouts worth a total of EUR 240 billion (USD 272 billion) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU), and the European Central Bank (ECB), which together form the troika of Athens’ creditors.
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