‘Grexit’ to ‘Greferendum’: Athens on the brink of default
As the talks resume they swiftly hit a key stumbling block: the 18 other members of the Eurozone refuse Greece’s request to extend its repayment deadline by a month to what would be after the July 5 referendum.
Just another ploy to win time, grumble the EU’s negotiators. Varoufakis says he plans to seek legal advice on whether the other Eurozone states can make a decision without his agreement.
In the packed press room, rumors fly the talks are near an end, that Varoufakis is planning to hold a news conference. In the end it is the Netherland’s Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Euro group of finance ministers, who takes the stand.
In a weak voice, he announces that Greece’s huge bailout plan that has been in place since 2012 will finish in three days, on June 30.
Words begin to fly. Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan warns the Eurozone is facing a “jump into the unknown,” while Varoufakis rushes from the talks with a parting warning that today is a “sad day for Europe”.
This is a “historic moment in the worst sense of the term,” says a source close to the talks.
Officials from the Eurozone, facing the unprecedented loss of one of its members, start talks on a plan B to deal with the nightmare scenario of a “Grexit” — euphemistically known as “the consequences”.
At the table, discussions begin on capital controls in Greece and the situation of its banks. Many want reassurance that a Greek default and its exit from the Eurozone will not hurt their country.
“Don’t believe that a ‘Grexit’ is just (about) Greece,” says an official.
