|
|
|
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-07-03
CONTENTS
[01] ND leader Samaras: Government wants to lead Greece out of the euro
[02] 'No' vote will greatly weaken Greece's position, Juncker warns
[03] Narrow difference in Sunday's referendum, opinion polls show
[04] Agreement 'more or less done' Varoufakis tells 'Morning Ireland'
[01] ND leader Samaras: Government wants to lead Greece out of the euro
ANA-MPA -- New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras accused on Friday Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras of lying to Greeks and of misinterpreting the
IMF's debt sustainability analysis published yesterday, while he argued
that the government wants to get the country out of the euro.
"The same report blames his [Tsipras'] government for the deterioration
of Greece's economy in the past five months," Samaras said, which is why
"it is proposing a new memorandum with much harsher measures … They [the
IMF] accuse them of worsening everything and they are celebrating! They
are bringing them a new memorandum and they're happy about it."
The leader of the main opposition noted that debt restructuring was
already included in agreements dating from 2012. "With this government,
we're in danger of a bank deposit haircut," he added. Samaras urged
Greeks to vote ‘yes' to the euro on Sunday, clarifying that citizens
are not selecting between this or that proposal. "Because now they told us
they will sign a deal within 48 hours, something they haven't accomplished
in 5 months! And of course, in 48 hours they will bring a better deal."
"So what's the point of the referendum?" wondered Samaras and added
"Why create division? Why did the country have to collapse?" And
continues by citing a statement Alternate Minister for International
Economic Relations Euclid Tsakalotos who said it was called to avoid
the government's collapse. "They wanted to take our country out of the
euro with the approval of our people," he added. "I urge all Greeks,
whatever they believe, to go to the polls united. And most importantly,
whatever they vote, to be united the day after," Samaras said.
[02] 'No' vote will greatly weaken Greece's position, Juncker warns
BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/ M. Aroni) If Greeks vote 'No' in the referendum on
Sunday, the Greek government's negotiating position will be greatly
weakened, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in
a press conference in Luxembourg on Friday for the launch of the new
EU presidency.
Asked to comment on a statement by Greek Finance Minister Yanis
Varoufakis, who said that Greece's negotiating position will be made
stronger if there is a 'No' outcome, Juncker said he did not want to
expand on his answer, given that the referendum will be held in two days,
saying only that a No vote will dramatically weaken Greece's position.
He said that the situation would be difficult whichever way Greeks voted,
since even if Greeks voted 'Yes' "we will face difficult negotiations"
[03] Narrow difference in Sunday's referendum, opinion polls show
ANA-MPA -- Greeks are almost evenly split between a vote of 'Yes' and
'No' in Sunday's referendum, according to a Public Issue opinion poll
published on Friday. The poll was conducted between June 30 and July
2 for the Sunday edition of "Avghi".
Those intending to vote 'No' were marginally ahead by 43 pct, while 42.5
pct intend to vote 'Yes', 9 pct are undecided, 3.5 pct say they will not
vote, 1 pct will cast a spoilt/blank vote and another 1 pct replied don't
know/won't answer. Asked to predict which result will prevail, regardless
of how they intend to vote themselves, 39 pct forecast a 'No' win, 50 pct
expected that 'Yes' will win and 11 pct expressed no opinion. A 54 pct
majority disagree with the decision to call a referendum, 42 pct agrees,
1 pct has no opinion and 2 pct said that it neither agrees nor disagrees.
In terms of qualititative data, the research showed that 44 pct of men
will vote 'Yes' and 44 pct will vote 'No' while 41 pct of women will vote
'Yes' and 42 pct will vote 'No'. The 'No' vote is predominates among the
18-24 age group, with 71 pct opting for 'No' and 20 pct opting for 'Yes',
while support for 'No' drops to 59 pct among the 25-34 age group, with
26 pct intending to vote 'Yes'. In the 35-44 age group, 34 pct support
'Yes' and 53 pct support 'No' and in the 45-54 age group support for
'No' is at 48 pct and for 'Yes' at 36 pct. For those aged 55-64, 'Yes'
predominates at 47 pct, compared with 44 pct for 'No' while for those
over 65, support for 'No' drops to 26 pct and 'Yes' rises to 56 pct.
Broken down by area, the split between the Yes-No votes was 45-40 in
Athens, 39-44 in Thessaloniki and 42-45 in the rest of Greece.
[04] Agreement 'more or less done' Varoufakis tells 'Morning Ireland'
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told Irish radio station
on Friday that a deal with Greece's lenders "is more or less done",
and that either vote on Sunday will lead to a deal, while a ‘no'
vote will secure a better one.
"Whether there's a ‘yes' or ‘no', the agreement will come in the
immediate future. If there's a ‘yes' then the Greek government will
just sign on the dotted line in the institutions' proposal from June 25,"
the minister told "Morning Ireland" talk show. He also reiterated that
if Greeks say ‘no', "I can assure you this week we have received some
very interesting proposals which arrive confidentially from official
Europe and an agreement is more or less done." The minister expressed
his conviction that Greek banks will open on Monday regardless of the
result of the referendum and rejected the idea that a ‘yes' vote would
be the end of main coalition partner SYRIZA, since, as he explained,
even if people vote ‘yes', the party would remain the only credible
political party. He noted Greece wants to pay its debt and fulfill its
obligations towards its creditors and that the country wants a logical
fiscal policy with reforms which would end the crisis and help repay the
debts. Varoufakis also said that bank deposits are safe and that the dead
end will be resolved. Asked whether the government wants a ‘no' vote to
support its failure to achieve an agreement, the minister said: "We didn't
fail, the Eurogroup failed." In an opinion piece published earlier on his
personal blog, Varoufakis wrote that for the first time, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) recognized that, in its fifth review assessment, there
was a low probability that Greece's public debt would prove sustainable.
The minister presents an extract from the IMF's own report in which it
confesses that, to portray Greek public debt as sustainable (without
substantial debt relief), its researchers had to make the assumption
that "…Greece would go from having the lowest average total factor
productivity (TFP) growth in the euro area since it joined the EU in
1981 to having among the highest TFP growth, and that it would go to the
highest labor force participation rates and to German employment rates."
"Pigs would, of course, sooner fly!" Varoufakis commented. "Never before
has a veritable institution advocated policies that clashed so mercilessly
with its own research. Never before has the IMF agreed, on economic
analysis, with a government it sought to devastate," he concluded.
|
