一定要捱到7月先來爆 ?
finance.yahoo.com
By Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou
ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a
referendum on austerity demands from foreign creditors on Saturday,
rejecting an "ultimatum" from lenders and putting a deal that could
determine Greece's future in Europe to a risky popular vote.
The surprise call marked the most dramatic twist yet in five-month
negotiations between Greece and its lenders, plunging the cash-strapped
nation into uncharted waters and risking a default and capital controls
as hopes for an aid agreement faded.
After a week of acrimonious talks in Brussels, Tsipras dismissed
lenders' proposals as "blackmail" before flying to Athens to huddle with
ministers. After midnight, he appeared on television to announce plans
for a referendum on July 5.
"Our responsibility is for the future of our country. This
responsibility obliges us to respond to the ultimatum through the
sovereign will of the Greek people," Tsipras said in a televised address
to the nation.
The 40-year-old prime minister said he would respect the outcome of the
vote. But he argued the lenders demands "clearly violate European social
rules and fundamental rights", would asphyxiate Greece's flailing
economy and aimed at the "humiliation of the entire Greek people".
Government ministers emerging from the cabinet meeting said they were
confident Greeks would vote no and reject the bailout demands, leaving
open the question as to whether the country had other options beside
leaving the euro in such an event.
The referendum call also throws the country's tottering banking system
into focus, though a deputy minister said there were no plans to impose
capital controls and banks would open as normal on Monday.
"The risk of Grexit has increased considerably, from previously 20
percent to at least 50 percent," Wolfgango Piccoli of Teneo Intelligence
said in a research note. "Avoiding capital controls next week will be
very difficult, if not impossible."
Soon after the address in the early hours of the morning, lines of up to
10 people were seen forming to withdraw cash from automated teller
machines in some parts of Athens. Small groups of anti-establishment
protesters threw petrol bombs and stones at police in an Athens
neighborhood where protests are common.
The euro zone had offered to release billions in frozen aid if Greece
accepted and implemented pension and tax reforms that are anathema to
its leftist government, elected in January on a promise to end
austerity.
Without the bailout funds, Athens is due to default on 1.6 billion euros
in repayments to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, pushing
Greece closer to being forced out of the euro, causing chaos for its
economy and financial markets.
A default would not necessarily lead to Athens leaving the 19-nation
single currency area, but is expected to pave the way for it, worrying
European leaders who fear it would undermine the principle that
membership is irrevocable.
Greece's parliament convenes on Saturday at noon local time (0500 ET) to
approve the referendum plan, just before euro zone finance ministers
are due to meet in Brussels to discuss an aid offer from European and
IMF to Greece.
One European official said the ministers would discuss a "Plan B" on
preparing to limit the damage from a Greek default to Greek banks and
other euro zone countries and markets if Athens rejected their offer.
Tsipras said he would ask for an extension of the bailout ending June 30 by a few days to accommodate the referendum.
He also spoke with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to
discuss the referendum, and senior government officials were due to meet
the ECB chief later on Saturday.
With Greece's stricken banking sector dependent on central bank funds to
remain afloat, the ECB will play a vital role in keeping the system on
its feet over the next few days.
"YES OR NO TO EUROPE"
Opposition parties attacked the government, saying the Tsipras's hardline stance had brought Greece to its knees.
"Tsipras brought the country to a total deadlock. Between an
unacceptable agreement and a euro exit," former conservative Prime
Minister Antonis Samaras said. The referendum question was effectively a
"yes" or "no" to Europe, he said.
This is not the first time that Greece has flirted with a referendum in
recent years. Former Prime Minister George Papandreou sought one in 2011
as he struggled to impose painful cuts demands by lenders, but was
ousted over the call and his administration replaced by a government of
technocrats.
The latest drama came after weeks of phone calls,
face-to-face-discussions and several rounds of meetings among European
leaders to sort out Greece's troubles. In the latest round, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande met
Tsipras on the sidelines of an EU summit to coax him to accept an offer
to fill Athens' empty coffers until November in return for painful
reforms.
But after months of fruitless wrangling, the patience of European
partners with the leftwing government in Athens had grown thin and
officials had indicated that there was little more room to maneuver.
Merkel said she and Hollande had urged him in a 45-minute private meeting to accept the creditors' "generous" offer.
"We have taken a step towards Greece," she said. "Now it is up to the Greek side to take a similar step."
Both she and Hollande said Saturday's meeting of euro zone finance
ministers would be the decisive moment for a deal since time was running
out to secure German parliamentary approval in time to release funds
needed to avert a Greek default.
The creditors laid out terms in a document handed to Greece on Thursday.
It said Athens could have 15.5 billion euros in EU and IMF funding in
four installments to see it through to the end of November, including
1.8 billion euros by Tuesday as soon as the Greek parliament approved
the plan.
The total is barely more than what Greece needs to service its debts
over the next six months and contains no new money. Further funding
would require a third bailout program, which is politically impossible
for the moment in Athens and Berlin.
The lenders also made a gesture towards Tsipras' demands for debt relief
by offering to reaffirm a 2012 pledge to consider stretching out loan
maturities, lowering interest rates and extending an interest payment
moratorium on euro zone loans to Greece, a senior EU official said.
But the demands come at the price of pension cutbacks, new reductions in
public sector salaries, an increase in taxes on food, eateries and
tourism, and elimination of tax breaks on tourist islands. That has
sparked protests in Greece, where one in four people are out of work.
"The government and the Europeans, who we thought were our partners,
have brought us to the edge of the precipice," said 65-year-old Maria
Papaconstantinou in Athens central square.
Additional reporting by Michele Kambas,; George Georgiopoulos and
Lefteris Karagiannopoulos in Athens, Paul Taylor and Jan Strupczewski in
Brussels, writing by James Mackenzie and Deepa Babington; Editing by
Sophie Walker, Philippa Fletcher, Toni Reinhold)
