As Greece sinks further deep into a debt morass, the country’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ stunned its international debt negotiators by bringing forth a motion to hold a referendum on creditor proposals for reforms in exchange for loans. With this move Greece seems to have taken one more step towards falling out of the Euro currency union.
Earlier Eurozone member states refused to extend its bailout program beyond the expiry date on Tuesday leaving Greece tottering on the edge of a financial anarchy.
Greece’s future in the European Union looks increasingly shaky. Chaos ensued in most financial institutions in the country as people queued outside banks to withdraw cash late unto dusk after Tsipras’ announced the referendum in the early hours of Saturday. Billions of Euros have already been emptied in the preceding weeks.
Greece owes a whopping 1.6 billion Euros to the IMF on Tuesday and the bailout program expires on Tuesday. It is unclear how the country will survive the economic meltdown. The referendum is set for next Sunday and will ask the people whether to accept proposed reforms needed to get bailout loans from other eurozone countries and the IMF. The government has already declared that it seeks a rejection of the proposal.
Greece’s firebrand radical left wing leader has accused member European Union and the IMF of blatant blackmail. Tsipras stands isolated internationally with most European Nations and the extreme far-right Golden Dawn party labeling his move for a vote an imprudent and dangerous gamble which effectively ends negotiations to keep Greece financially afloat.
The latest move by Greece comes after nearly five months of painful negotiations with the Greek PM accusing the debt providers of trying to arm twist his country to accept harsh austerity measures which will further intensify the woes of the population already living under harsh conditions because of past tough creditor-demanded spending cuts and tax hikes.
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