Brussels, 03/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, Xavier Bettel, prime minister of Luxembourg, and Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, clearly suggested that Greeks should vote yes in the referendum on Sunday 5 July when asked whether they are in favour of the reform plan that their country must pledge to if it is receive aid from the eurozone. The suggestion came together with a warning about the “severe” consequences of a no vote.
A no vote would only make Greece weaker. In Luxembourg on Friday 3 July, Jean-Claude Juncker repeated: “If the Greeks will vote 'no', the Greek position will be dramatically weakened,” echoing a similar warning on Thursday from the head of Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem (see EUROPE 11349). This sentiment was echoed by Xavier Bettel, who was standing next to Juncker, and said that a yes would lead to difficult negotiations and a no would lead to even more difficult negotiations. The two European leaders met with the College of Commissioners in Luxembourg for the start of Luxembourg's Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Building bridges by restoring trust. Bettel said that one of the priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency would be to build bridges with Greece and the United Kingdom. Luxembourg wants Greece to remain in the eurozone and the UK to remain in the EU, he said, adding that for Greece, this would require a rebuilding of trust after the episode of spending two days with Alexis Tsipras in Brussels where not a word was said about a referendum. The announcement was made on television in Athens the next day.
A referendum at the drop of a hat. The Luxembourg prime minister criticised the bad timing for holding the referendum because people need to know what they're voting for and need to understand the arguments for the yes and no votes. He said it wasn't a vote for or against the Greek prime minister because Sunday would determine Greece's position in Europe, Greece's position in the euro and the future of the euro and the future of Europe, but whatever the Greeks decided, Bettel said their choice would be respected.
Alexis Tsipras' fate is on the line. The president of the European Parliament agrees about the importance of the referendum and called for a yes vote, but does not share the views of the Luxembourg prime minister about the fate of Tsipras, saying in an interview with Handelsblatt on Friday 3 July: “We hope that the Greeks will say yes to the demands of the creditors ... Then Tsipras in my view has to resign ... new elections would be inevitable. But there would have to be a technical government for the transition, so that we can resume negotiations. And if this transitional government finds a reasonable agreement with the creditors, then Syriza's time would be over.” And he goes on to say that in case of a no vote “ we could not with a quiet conscience continue to negotiate ... Maybe there will be an emergency programme to keep the country alive.” These comments were criticised by the GUE/NGL group, which urged Schulz to: “stop interfering with the referendum as this is a serious violation of your role as President” of the European Parliament. MEP Philippe Lamberts of the Greens, also demanded explanations from Schulz.
The EFSF will wait before demanding that Athens repay what it owes. The European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) announced on Friday 3 July that Greece is officially in default after failing to pay the scheduled €1.6 billion repayment to the IMF on Tuesday, but still reserves the right to demand early repayment of the €130.9 billion owed by Athens, as recommended by the Commission. EFSF managing director Klaus Regling explained in a press release, however, that “This event of default is a cause for deep concern. It breaks the commitment made by Greece to honour its financial obligations to all its creditors, and it opens the door to severe consequences for the Greek economy and the Greek people.” (Jan Kordys and Lionel Changeur)