Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has called an emergency meeting of all political party leaders in Athens on Monday morning, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saying that a strong national front is needed to reinstate calm in the economy and to seek a viable rescue agreement.
The Greek people voted a resounding ‘no’ on Sunday where the leftist Syriza government deferred a decision to accept or reject a fresh bailout deal with international lenders to a referendum. The outcome of a 61% vote has resulted in a chain of events including Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, also calling an emergency meeting, this time on Tuesday evening, to see how to deal with the result, which he termed as “unfortunate”.
At the same time, Greece’s firebrand economics minister Yanis Varoufakis announced he was quitting with a simple tweet “Minister No More”. Reports suggested that his absence from Tuesday’s Eurogroup meeting would assist in a smoother conclusion of a new deal with the international lenders, the European Central Bank, European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Dijsselbloem is already expected to have a teleconference with European Commission chief Jean Claude Juncker, ECB President Mario Draghi and European Council chairman Donald Tusk.
European Parliament President Martin Shultz warned that Greece will need emergency assistance, adding that the Greek government’s pledge that banks would reopen on Monday morning seemed remote and risky.
International markets opened lower on Monday morning with the Nikkei in Tokyo plunging 1.65% to 20,200 points, as foreign government officials said feared that although Greece has voted to stay within the EU and the Eurozone, it will not remain so for long.
Cyprus government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said that the Greek people’s will was respected, but that it was important to reach a deal that would lead to the conclusion of a further financing programme.
Cyprus had already offered to forgive its own share of Greek debt held by Eurozone governments, which presently totals €330 mln, in addition to the €4.5 bln that were written off in toxic Greek government bonds in 2011, that resulted in the collapse of Cypriot banks.
Last week, Greece missed its first payment to international lenders, formerly known as the Troika, by failing to repay €1.6 bln to the IMF. From July 10 to 20, Athens has to repay a further €7 bln in various debts (ECB, IMF, national central banks and short-term treasury bills) and has no means to pay.
