Long queues form at Greek banks and shops
With Greece’s bailout expiring today and an IMF payment falling due at the same time, prime minister Alexis Tsipras pleaded by phone with European officials to extend the programme until a referendum on Sunday on its future terms.
The frantic efforts to secure Greece’s place within the eurozone followed a dramatic weekend. Tsipras’s decision, early on Saturday, to put the aid package to a popular vote took the lenders and some of Tsipras’s own negotiating team by surprise. It also pushed Greece towards defaulting on €1.6bn due to the International Monetary Fund.
Greeks — used to lengthy talks with creditors before an 11th-hour deal — were left shocked by the turn of events. Lines snaked outside ATMs and inside supermarkets as fears of disruptions to petrol and medicine supplies grew.
“I can’t believe it,” said Athens resident Evgenia Gekou, 50, on her way to work. “I keep thinking we will wake up tomorrow and everything will be okay. I’m trying hard not to worry.”
After months of talks, Greece’s exasperated European partners have put the blame for the crisis squarely on Tsipras for rejecting a package they consider generous. The Greek side says further austerity would simply deepen one of the worst economic crises of modern times in a country where a quarter of the workforce is already unemployed.
Emotions were unusually raw among Europe’s leaders. EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he felt personally betrayed and told Greeks a no vote would point to a eurozone exit.
“I will say to the Greeks who I love deeply: You mustn’t commit suicide because you are afraid of death,” Juncker told a news conference.
French president Francois Hollande appealed to Tsipras to return to the negotiating table and German chancellor Angela Merkel said she was willing to talk to the Greek leader if he wanted.
The Greek government will keep banks shut at least until after July 5, the date of the referendum, and withdrawals from automated teller machines were limited to €60 day when they reopened at 12pm . The stock exchange will also stay shut.
The creditors wanted Greece to cut pensions and raise taxes in ways Tsipras has long argued would be counter-productive.
As Tsipras announced the closure of banks and the stock exchange late on Sunday, there were long queues outside ATMs and petrol stations as people raced to take out cash before it was too late. Lines formed at ATMs when they reopened on Monday.
“I’ve got €5 in my pocket,” said plumber Yannis Kalaizakis, 58, outside an empty cash machine in central Athens. “I thought I would try my luck here for some money. The queues in my neighbourhood were too long. I don’t know what else to say. It’s a mess.”
Despite the financial shock, parts of daily life went on as normal, with shops, pharmacies, and supermarkets in the city opening and Greeks meeting to discuss their country’s fate at cafes and restaurants. Tourists gathered as usual to watch the changing of the presidential guard at parliament.
A rally called by Tsipras’s Syriza party to protest against austerity and urge voters to say no in the referendum on bailout terms was expected later last night.
The referendum poses a simple question: “Should the proposal which was submitted by the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF at the Eurogroup of June 25, 2015 which consists of two parts that together consist of their comprehensive proposal, be accepted?”
The no box appears as the first option on top of the yes box below. The government has urged Greeks to vote no, which it says will strengthen its hand at the negotiating table though analysts say it will instead push Greece out of the euro. The Economist Intelligence Unit predicted a no vote was more likely, raising the odds of a Greek exit to 60%.
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