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Greek PM urges No vote to 'scaremongering'

Author
AAP,
Publish Date
Sat, 4 Jul 2015, 7:42AM
Greek Prime Minister Alexist Tsipras gives a thumbs-up as he walks to Syntagma Square in Athens (Getty Images)
Greek Prime Minister Alexist Tsipras gives a thumbs-up as he walks to Syntagma Square in Athens (Getty Images)

Greek PM urges No vote to 'scaremongering'

Author
AAP,
Publish Date
Sat, 4 Jul 2015, 7:42AM

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged voters to ignore European scaremongering and vote 'No' in this weekend's referendum as polls showed support swinging behind the 'Yes' campaign.

Huge rival rallies are expected in central Athens late on Friday to galvanise support for each side in Sunday's plebiscite.

Many Greeks, who are struggling under capital controls that have limited daily ATM withdrawals to just 60 ($A87.08), fear EU leaders' warnings that a 'No' vote could mean Greece's exit from the euro - a Grexit.

The sense of building crisis was heightened further by a eurozone emergency fund officially declaring Greece to be in default.

The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which provided funds to eurozone countries in difficulty, said however it won't demand immediate repayment of its Greek loans worth 145 billion euros.

Tsipras insisted that his decision to stop debt negotiations last week and call the referendum "does not mean a break with Europe".

He called on creditors to restructure Greek's unsustainable 323-billion-euro debt mountain by forgiving 30 per cent of the debt owed to them and allowing a 20-year grace period for repaying the rest.

Only a last-minute challenge to the legality of the ballot in Greece's top administrative court, the Council of State, might be able derail it. The court was to give its ruling on Friday.

Confusion, however, is widespread over the very technical question posed in the referendum, compounding concerns over what the post-vote consequences might be.

The two latest polls published on Friday showed voter intentions were effectively tied.

An Alco institute poll found 44.8 per cent of Greeks intend to vote 'Yes' and 43.4 per cent are for 'No'. A Bloomberg survey for Greece's Macedonia University was equally split, showing 43 per cent to vote 'No' and 42.5 per cent 'Yes'.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned that Greece's negotiating position, far from being strengthened, would be "dramatically weakened" in the event of a 'No'.
Even if the 'Yes' vote wins, there would still be "difficult" negotiations ahead, he added.
Greek voters are confronted with a referendum question that has stumped many.

The question reads: "Should the deal draft that was put forward by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the Eurogroup of June 25, 2015, and consists of two parts, that together form a unified proposal, be accepted? The first document is titled 'Reforms for the Completion of the Current Programme and Beyond' and the second 'Preliminary Debt Sustainability Analysis'."

Eurozone officials have firmly said that the "deal" referred to expired on Tuesday - the same day Greece failed to make a 1.5-billion-euro payment to the IMF, becoming the first developed country ever to do so.

On July 20, Greece looks likely to be unable to repay another 3.5 billion euros owed to the ECB.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has said he would step down if a 'Yes' vote carried the day, and the rest of the government "may very well" do the same.

But Tsipras has been ambiguous, saying only he would respect the referendum's result and take the necessary steps "set out in the constitution".

Europe's main stock markets slipped during Friday trading as all eyes were riveted on the plebiscite and what that might mean to investors at the beginning of next week.

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