The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reiterated that “dSunday's referendum will not be on Greece remaining in the euro”, but that the problem is debt reduction. And he added that precisely its unsustainability justifies the choice of the Greek government not to accept the plan and the measures proposed by Brussels.
In a televised message to the nation during the final day of campaigning before Sunday's referendum, Tsipras therefore renewed his call for Greeks to vote "no to blackmail and ultimatum", on the strength of the report by the International Monetary Fund which, while on the one hand highlighted the worsening of the Greek situation, estimating another 50,2 billion in aid is needed over the next three years, on the other hand also pointed the finger at the declining sustainability of Greek debt up to an estimate of a debt/GDP ratio of 200% with Grexit. "Yesterday - Tsipras argued in his televised appeal - an event of great political importance took place: the IMF published a report on the economy of Greece in which he confirmed the obvious: that the Greek debt is not sustainable”.
A "no" to the referendum, the Syriza leader therefore insisted, “it would strengthen the Greek government's negotiating position and would lead to better terms in the agreement”. Hypothesis rejected by the president of the EU commission Jean-Claude Juncker. "If the Greeks vote 'no' in Sunday's referendum, Greece's position will be dramatically weakened," he replied. And "even if the result of the Greek referendum is 'yes', the negotiations will be difficult".
Meanwhile, while the polls continue to give the "yes" a slight advantage and in any case accredit head-to-head to the last, the reactions are coming from European leaders. “In recent weeks, the situation in Greece has dramatically worsened,” said the German minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to Bild, according to a preview. Any new negotiations with Greece "will take some time", the finance minister of Berlin later clarified.
