Greece Crisis: Greeks Defy Europe With Overwhelming 'No' to Austerity Terms

Greeks voted overwhelmingly today to reject terms of a bailout, risking financial ruin in a show of defiance that could splinter Europe.

With over 70pc of the votes counted, official figures showed 61.5 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”.

Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said the ‘No’ vote was a vote in favour of democracy and social justice that allowed Athens to call on its partners to find a fair deal.

“As of tomorrow, with this brave ‘No’ the Greek people handed us…. we will extend a helping hand towards our lenders. We will call on each one of them to find common ground,” Varoufakis told reporters. “As of tomorrow, Europe, whose heart is beating in Greece tonight, is starting to heal its wounds, our wounds. Today’s No is a big Yes to democratic Europe.

However, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the Tagesspiegel daily that it was hard to imagine talks on a new bailout programme with Greece after the result.

“With the rejection of the rules of the euro zone … negotiations about a programme worth billions are barely conceivable,” said Gabriel, leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) who share power with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

“Tsipras and his government are leading the Greek people on a path of bitter abandonment and hopelessness,” he said, adding Tsipras had “torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise”.

The finance ministers of the Eurogroup will meet this week to discuss the outcome of the Greek referendum, a spokesman for group chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said tonight.

The ministers are not expected to meet on Monday, but later in the week, said Michel Reijns.

Read the Whole Article