With yesterday's 'shock' announcement by the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to hold a referendum on a EU debt rescue package, endorsed by his cabinet overnight, do you agree with their approach ?
It may even be invalid if fewer than the required 40% of voters take part.
Even if it were to climb over the 40% threshold, the result may be ignored. After all, anything approved with less than a 55% majority is not mandatory - just advisory.
The planned referendum also threatens to unravel a deal reached at a EU summit last week aimed at resolving the euro debt crisis.
Leaders agreed on a 100bn-euro loan (£86bn; $140bn) to Athens and a 50% debt write-off.
But in return, Greece must make deep cuts in public spending, slashing pensions and wages and making thousands of civil servants redundant.
Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker said if a referendum rejected the bailout, it could mean bankruptcy for Greece. "It will depend on the manner in which the question will be exactly formulated and on what the Greeks exactly vote on," he said.
I certainly dont agree with the way he announced it, it seems like Mr Papandreou has staked all on a single roll of the dice.
With the vote of no confidence on friday it looks like he expected to lose, and has done this as a last ditch attempt to cling to power.
Alea iacta est
I believe it is OK for the Greek people to hold referendum on a EU debt rescue package, It is after all the people who will have to suffer the austerity measures required to pay this back. I feel it is Right for those who will suffer to decide there own fate, it was not them who lost it, but they have to pay it back. If of coarse they vote yes, which I don't think they will, and it all goes tits up, the Prime Minister can say, you voted for it.
I suspect the result of this is that Greece could well be the first country to default and have their debt wiped and start afresh. Interesting and scary times ahead.
would you vote for pay cuts..and higher taxes..and smaller pensions ?
Greece will default....leave the euro..and go back to the Drackma. However what is more worrying is the domino effect. Portugal, italy and Spain...are all on the brink. It was even mentioned on radio yesterday that France is not far behind. I'm thinking of taking my money out the bank and sticking it under my matress !!!! safest place I'm thinking !!
If it was the UK and not Greece - the population would be screaming for a referendum.
This is only delaying the inevitable. Whether Greece defaults in, or out, of the Euro is somewhat irrelevant cos they will still have to pay back what they owe. The country is bust because they do not have the economic capability to live to their Euro status.
Coming out of the Euro will be massively damaging for Greece as it will devalue their returning currency by about 50% but in fact put them where they should be, not where the Euro has been artificially keeping them.
If Greece, Spain, Portugal and others come out of the Euro they will benefit from massive increase in tourism and their domestic products will sell better on the International markets - but that will be small comfort for the decades of debt that will face them in the future and a reduced value currency with which to repay it.
at leest unlike blare and now cameron and brown that the Greek minister has the guts to do what greece demands which is a true democracy based on thousands of yeers.
unlike in the uk where they promised us a referendum in there manifestos and then lied there bollocks off and then slunk into the corner and denied us that right.
greece are fucked as is ireland as is a huge part of europe. Us? we are fucked to only we don't realise that just yet.
take away the only thing worth anything now which is the banks and we are on a level with cuba, no wonder the government skinted us by bailing them out as without them we are now worthless and more importantly as skint as the next euro country.
The referendum is withdrawn, it seems.
Maybe its less a question of whether Greece wants to stay in teh Euro and more about if the Euro-zone countries still want Greece in there.
UK, of course, shouldn't have a say since we aren't in it.
the euro masters being the french and the germans would never let a member state go to the wall. if that were to happen europe would collapse as we know it. the euro would be dead and buried except for the peeple who would fight for it until there dying breaths. no guessing who they would be.
greece is an example of what can happen when a little country wants to play big boy politics. greece have one industry and that is the tourist. the current riots just like in egypt have only unsettled the greek economy more than it already was. if this is not stopped now greece will plunge into certain uncertanty for yeers to come.
i always said that europe and especially the euro was a disaster waiting to happen and so it has proved. greece had no alternative solution other than to watch as there paymasters in the euro namely france and germany, bankrolled there survival.
just think a civilisasion like greece that has existed for thousands of yeers, taken to the point of bankrupsy and destruction, just because the suited idiots in there parliament thought it would be good for greece to become part of the euro. goes to show they actuually like most politicians are liars and actually know fuck all about the peeple they reckon they serve.
the greek god of thunder should be rising up with anger . Thor is certainly angry.
what country will be next? italy or portugal? let us hope it is not the uk eh?
interesting script but poorly stage managed. beware greeks bearing referendum (democracy). highly unlikely unless it's just part of the blame game. must watch the next episode of "the contrived world economic monetary crisis unfolding". it will be on every night from now on. i do like the characters being played by the selected politicians, they do make me laugh, especially when they forget their lines and drop things out of the bag.
lazy phukin greeks, irish, portugese, spaniards, italians, icelandic's, belgians,french and british. they all borrowed too much money (must have got it from mars) and now cant pay it back to whoever lent it them wherever they got it from. musta bin mars or anuva planet. give em all cuts and austerity. that'll teach em to live within their means.......i feel anuva war comin on..... ah yes, keep watchin that telievision, the way outa this mess is to av anuva war and destroy all that debt (and the debtors). ....lets blame the fussiewussies cos they is sittin on oil......
