Greece Votes 'No' to Austerity: What Awaits Greece and Europe?
Faced with accepting a bailout offer to ease their massive debt, Greece voted no on Sunday's national referendum.
Their decision not to enter into austerity now seriously heightens the chances that the country could suffer a worse economic calamity and even lose its place in the Euro.
As reported by CNN, over 60 percent of the voting populous voted "no." Alexis Tsipras, the leftist Prime Minister of Greece, hopes that this latest move will compel Europe to offer more money with less austerity attached, and lead to a cancelation of some of Greece's current debts.
Although there was much celebration after Sunday’s vote, Greece in now facing a path of uncertainty which could very well lead them to abandon the euro and print their own currency.
Economist and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has praised the outcome saying that the vote was a "majestic, big YES to a democratic Europe," and adding, “It is a NO to the dystopic vision of a Eurozone that functions like an iron cage for its peoples."
It is anyone’s guess how the International Monetary Fund (which has already rescued Greece twice since 2010) will respond to this outcome.
As reported by the Guardian, Greek banks will remained closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Louka Katseli, the chairwoman of the National Bank of Greece, said, “Until Wednesday evening we continue as things stand today.” Speaking for the association of Greek banks, Katseli said, “If there is a decision by the European Central Bank in the meantime enabling us to modify this decision, there will be a new decision.”
As reported by CNBC, Olivier Blanchard, the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, has remarked on the economic situation that now exists between Greece and its creditors, noting that there will “tough commitments to be made on both sides."
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