5 July 2015

Greek referendum



Greek referendum

Greece will hold a referendum on 5 July to decide whether or not to accept a bailout deal offered by international creditors.

The referendum follows of Greece’s 30 June default on the repayment of a $1.73 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Council (EC) have offered to bail out the country in exchange of the acceptance of a 10-point Prior Actions plan. The plan lists several austerity measures such as VAT reforms (which includes reduction of government subsidies), pension reforms, fiscal structural measures and stricter anti-corruption and justice legislations.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras declared on 24 June that a plebiscite will be held to decide if Greece should accept the bailout deal or not. The citizens now have a choice between ‘Yes’- accept the bailout offer which will be rolled out as a result, and ‘No’- reject the offer and continue with the default, which would make an exit from the European Union a more likely scenario.

 

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