So the leftist Syriza government wins and the conservatives lose. It does give me some feeling of satisfaction that all these one-percenters who spent a fortune flying to Greece this weekend to try to sway the referendum ending up wasting their money. Democracy wins! The Greek people have spoken -- with a 25% unemployment rate (50% among young people), they are done with all these harsh austerity demands, which Syriza has consistently said would only make the problem worse. So the government is now saying they are ready to return to the negotiating table tomorrow hoping for a more reasonable deal now. Germany is remaining stubborn in its insistence that there are no plans for further negotiations and in fact are now ever more serious about kicking Greece out. This is despite the fact that, notwithstanding the 60% rejection of the EU's demands, 80% of the Greek people still want to stay in the EU. And most of the EU members are in sympathy with Greece and think Germany should hold back on the lash. Will there be a new meeting tomorrow based on today's election (which completely shocked the EU)? My guess is if not a new meeting at least the announcement of a new meeting will come sometime tomorrow. The EU's credibility and future has now been severely challenged as a consequence of today's election, even if Germany chooses to downplay that. At this point, it can be argued that Europe has a great deal more to lose than Greece if an agreement cannot be reached. Stay tuned.
Greeks defy Europe with overwhelming referendum 'No' | Reuters
Markets |
Greeks defy Europe with overwhelming referendum 'No'
ATHENS | BY KAROLINA TAGARIS AND LEFTERIS
PAPADIMAS
(Reuters) Greeks voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to
reject terms of a bailout, risking financial ruin in a show of defiance that
could splinter Europe.
With nearly half of the votes
counted, official figures showed
61 percent of Greeks rejecting the bailout offer. An official interior
ministry projection confirmed the figure as close to the expected final tally.
The
astonishingly strong victory by the 'No' camp overturned opinion polls that had
predicted an outcome too close to call. It leaves Greece in uncharted waters: risking financial and
political isolation within the euro
zone and a
banking collapse if creditors refuse further aid.
But
for millions of Greeks the outcome was an angry message to creditors that Greece can longer accept repeated rounds of
austerity that, in five years, had left one in four without a job. Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras has denounced the price paid for aid as
"blackmail" and a national "humiliation".
Hundreds of Greeks began pouring
into the central Syntagma square in front of parliament to celebrate, after a
week of building desperation as banks were shut and cash withdrawals rationed
to prevent a collapse of the Greek financial system.
"This is an imprint of the
will of the Greek people and now it's up to Europeans to show if they respect
our opinion and want to help," said Nikos Tarasis, a 23-year-old student.
Officials
from the Greek government, which had argued that a 'No' vote would strengthen its hand to
secure a better deal from international creditors after months of wrangling, immediately said they would try
to restart talks with European partners.
"I believe there is no Greek
today who is not proud, because regardless of what he voted he showed that this
country above all respects democracy," Labour Minister Panos Skourletis
said.
"The government now has a
strong mandate, a strong negotiating card, to bring a deal which will open new
ways."
But euro zone officials shot down any prospect of a
quick resumption of talks. One official said there were no plans for an emergency meeting
of euro zone finance ministers on Monday, adding the
vote outcome meant the ministers "would not know what to discuss".
RELATED COVERAGE
Many of Athens' partners have warned over the past week that a
'No' vote would mean cutting bridges with Europe and driving Greece's crippled
financial system into outright bankruptcy,
dramatically worsening the country's economic depression.
The
result also delivers a hammer blow to the European Union's grand single
currency project. Intended to be permanent and unbreakable when it was created
15 years ago, the euro zone could now be on the point of
losing its first member with the risk of further unraveling to come.
"I believe such a result
can be used as a strong negotiating tool so that Europeans can understand that
we are not a colony," said Nefeli Dimou, a 23-year-old student in Athens.
Greek banks, which have been
closed all week and rationing withdrawals from cash machines, are expected to
run out of money within days unless the European Central Bank provides an
emergency lifeline. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is due to meet top Greek
bankers later on Sunday and State Minister Nikos Pappas, one of Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras's closest aides, said it was "absolutely necessary" to
restore liquidity to the banking system now that the vote is over.
However the
European Central Bank, which holds a conference call on Monday morning, may be
reluctant to increase emergency lending to Greek banks after voters rejected
the spending cuts and economic reforms which creditors consider essential to
make Greek public finances viable, central bankers said.
First indications were that any
joint European political response may take a couple of days. German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and French President Francois Hollande will meet in Paris on Monday afternoon.
The European Commission, the EU executive, meets in Strasbourg on Tuesday and
will report to the European Parliament on the situation.
Tourists in Greece witness history
"EU leaders must get together immediately, even on Monday.
The situation is too serious to leave to finance ministers," said Axel
Schaefer, a deputy head of the Social Democrat (SPD) group in the German
parliament.
"You have to have confidence
in the ability of the ECB to act. We must use all the possibilities in the EU
budget to help Greece,
which is still a member of the euro and the EU."
UNCHARTED
A 'No' vote puts Greece and the euro zone in uncharted waters. Unable to borrow money
on capital markets, Greece has one of the world's highest levels of
public debt. The International Monetary Fund warned last week that it would
need massive debt relief and 50 billion euros in fresh funds.
RELATED COVERAGE
Greek officials see the IMF report as a vital support for their
argument that the bailout terms as they stood would merely have driven Greece further into depression.
Tsipras called the referendum
eight days ago after rejecting the tough terms offered by international
creditors as the price for releasing billions of euros in bailout funds.
He denounced the bailout terms as
an "ultimatum" and his argument that a 'No' vote would allow the
government to get a better deal appears to have convinced many Greeks,
particularly among younger voters who have been ravaged by unemployment levels
of nearly 50 percent.
"I have been jobless for
nearly four years and was telling myself to be patient," said 43-year-old
Eleni Deligainni, who said she voted 'No'. "But we've had enough
deprivation and unemployment."
Opinion
polls over the months have shown a large majority of Greeks want to remain in
the euro.
But,
exhausted and angry after five years of cuts, falling living standards and
rising taxes imposed under successive bailout programs, many appear to have
shrugged off the warnings of disaster, trusting that a deal can still be
reached.
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