Monday 29 June 2015

Greece: The Referendum Wording and Voting Form; Το ψηφοδέλτιο - Πρέπει να γίνει αποδεκτό το σχέδιο συμφωνίας; Jean-Claude Juncker Speaks; η έκβαση του δημοψηφίσματος έχει να κάνει με το μέλλον της Ελλάδας στην ευρωζώνη.



Wording here (News 247)

Το ψηφοδέλτιο αναφέρει:

Πρέπει να γίνει αποδεκτό το σχέδιο συμφωνίας, το οποίο κατέθεσαν η Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή, η Ευρωπαϊκή Κεντρική Τράπεζα και το Διεθνές Νομισματικό Ταμείο στο Eurogroup της 25.06.2015 και αποτελείται από δύο μέρη, τα οποία συγκροτούν την ενιαία πρότασή τους;


The vote: to stay in the Euro - or to leave it? (MSN/capital.gr) - η έκβαση του δημοψηφίσματος έχει να κάνει με το μέλλον της Ελλάδας στην ευρωζώνη.

EUobserver - "Juncker: Greek No would be rejection of Europe"
(find on euobserver.com/economic/129363)

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said Greeks should vote Yes in the referendum on creditors' conditions, because a No would amount to rejection of Europe. In a no-holds-barred speech on Monday (29 June), Juncker said he felt "betrayed" by Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ unexpected decision to call the vote and accused him of lies and populism in order to get a place in history books. Referring to Tsipras' use of the words "blackmail" and "ultimatum”, which he used on Friday before rejecting the creditors' latest proposals and calling the referendum, Juncker said: "Who is involved in that? Where are these threats coming from?”.

He added: “We don't deserve all this criticism”.

He also detailed many of the most controversial issues in the proposals, noting that "Greeks need to have a clear picture of what's at stake"....

He noted that the team of Greek negotiators sent to Brussels was "constantly changing" and that proposals coming from Athens were "delayed or deliberately altered". He said there was a promise to discuss debt measures - debt relief is the bottom line for the Tsipras government - in autumn.

"Mr Tsipras knows his," he added. "There are no wage cuts in this package. There are no pension cuts in this package. This is not a stupid austerity package”, he said.

Juncker accused Tsipras’ left-wing government of being reluctant to take decisions on what should be bread and butter issues for his own constituency, such as cutting defence spending and giving ship-owners a less favourable tax regime.

"We were the ones pushing for these elements”, said the commission chief....

The Greek government has said it will campaign for a No vote, while Greek media and commentators have noted that the referendum question is exceedingly complicated.

The question is, according to an unofficial translation by a Greek source: “Should the plan of agreement be accepted, which was submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund in the Eurogroup of 25.06.2015 and comprises of two parts, which constitute their unfifed proposal? The first document is entitled ‘Reforms for the Completion of the Current Programme and Beyond’ and the second ‘Preliminary Debt Sustainability Analysis’.”

Experts also note the No option is to be placed above the Yes option on the ballot paper.

Meanwhile, the German and French leaders have also indicated that Greek voters will be deciding on the wider question of euro membership on Sunday.

(From EUobserver)

Martin Schulz (Kathimerini) - The president of the European Union's parliament says he is willing to go to Greece and campaign ahead of the referendum there to convince the Greeks to vote for a bailout proposal that creditors have made. The Greek government has advised people to reject it. Martin Schulz says that «as a convinced European I will run and I will fight to convince the Greek people to take that stretched hand of the Europeans and to stay in the eurozone."

From The Telegraph:

Greek official: Juncker's claim that latest offer has no pension cuts is a "preposterous lie"

Juncker's speech has not gone down well with the Greek government - particularly his claim that the latest offer to Greece has "no pension cuts".

A senior Greek official has told the Telegraph:

This is a preposterous lie because he tries to argue that there is no "direct cuts" proposed, whereas, in fact, they demand:

• €900m in "welfare expenditure cuts", the gradual phasing out of special supplement on low pension (below €300)
• full implementation of law 3863/2010 on social security budget expenditure cutbacks
• implementation of the zero-deficit clause on supplementary pension funds which means 85pc cuts in supplementary pension of the most populous
• low-pension funds, the immediate abolition of 3rd party contributions (worth €700m) to pension funds
• an increase in witholding taxes on pentions for health insucance
• and last but not least a freeze on all pensions until 2021.

Spiegel Online: The Price of Five Years of Cowardice - "Why didn't the Greeks says weeks ago that they wanted to put the negotiations up for a vote? That would have been the democratic way to go about it. In the very best case scenario, Tsipras' about-face on the referendum is a populist move (assuming the decision was taken with any political calculation). In the worst case scenario, it is a cowardly one (if the head of government got cold feet about making such a difficult decision). But "constant cowardice" is also the answer to another question -- namely how the rest of the euro-zone members, Germany above all, could have allowed a situation to develop in which the erratic leaders of an economically insignificant country with a population of just 11 million people could bring the currency union to the verge of collapse?"

Spiegel Online: The Anti-Europe

Last-ditch offer rejected (Business Insider/Reuters)

Greek Reporter - Juncker Offers New Last Minute Deal to Greece on Tuesday; Tsipras Says No

The Supply Chain (Wall Street Journal) - Greece Faces Supply Chain Disruptions as Crisis Deepens

CNBC - How Greeks and tourists will be hit

Tsipras Interview (MSN?Naftemporiki)

John Psaropoulos, The New Athenian - War of words fogs referendum

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