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8 p.m.
Greek
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is conferring with the country's
bankers over what to demand next from the European Central Bank, a
ministry spokesman has confirmed.
The
spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity pending official
announcements. It wasn't immediately clear where the talks were taking
place.
According to the head of the Greek Banks' Association, cash is only going to last until Monday.
Although
banks are expected to re-open Tuesday, it is almost impossible to have
banks open without a large infusion of cash. Greek financial media have
reported the Bank of Greece will ask the ECB for 6 billion euros ($6.6
billion) in emergency assistance.
Meanwhile, a
close aide to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said a "No" vote win
should not be regarded as an intention by the government to leave the
euro.
It is wrong to link a "no" result to an
exit from the eurozone. If a "no" prevails that will help us get a
better agreement," Minister of State Nikos Pappas told private Alpha
television.
-By Demetris Nellas.
---
7:50 p.m.
Greece's
defense minister, who heads the nationalist junior coalition partner,
has tweeted that Greeks "won't be blackmailed" and "democracy has won."
Panos
Kammenos, leader of the Independent Greeks, has reacted to opinion
polls showing a close race but a likely win in Sunday's referendum by
the "no" vote.
Kammenos says "the Greek people
have proven that they won't be blackmailed. They won't be terrorized.
They won't be threatened. Democracy has won."
Greeks
voted on Sunday on its financial future, choosing in a referendum
whether to accept creditors' demands for more austerity in return for
rescue loans or defiantly reject the deal. Results are expected later
Sunday.
---
7:30 p.m.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Paris on Monday to discuss the
outcome of the Greek referendum with French President Francois Hollande.
Merkel's
office said Sunday that she will fly to Paris in the evening for a
"joint assessment of the situation after the Greek referendum and to
continue the close German-French cooperation on this issue."
Soon
after polls closed, Hollande made a similar announcement, saying he
would have a working dinner with Merkel on Monday evening to "evaluate
the consequences" of the vote.
Earlier in the
day, the French economy minister said the German and French leaders had
no disagreements when it came to dealing with the situation in Greece.
---
7:20 p.m.
The
governing left-wing Syriza party's European member of parliament says
that "Greek people are proving they want to remain in Europe" as equal
members "and not as a debt colony."
Dimitris
Papadimoulis said that the country should wait for the official and
final results of Sunday's referendum, and called on his fellow
countrymen to remain calm. Three opinion polls conducted during the
voting indicate a tight race with a likely win by the "no" vote.
Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras called Sunday's referendum last weekend, urging
voters to reject creditor reform proposals. Opposition parties and many
European officials have warned that a "no" vote, however, could
endanger Greece's position in Europe's joint currency, the euro.
"A new effort is beginning," he said, adding that Tsipras would move fast to conclude a deal with Greece's creditors.
---
7:10 p.m.
Three
opinion polls carried out during Greece's bailout referendum, which
could affect the country's future in the eurozone, indicate the "no"
vote will win.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called Sunday's referendum last weekend, urging voters to reject creditor reform proposals.
Opposition
parties and many European officials have warned that a "no" vote,
however, could endanger Greece's position in Europe's joint currency,
the euro.
The vote was held amid banking
restrictions imposed last Monday, with Greeks lining up at ATMs across
the country to withdraw a maximum 60 euros ($66) per day. Banks have
been shut all week, and it is uncertain when they will reopen.
---
6:55 p.m.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says that whatever the result in Greece, its future will be a difficult one.
Rajoy says the eurozone has rules and regulations "to ensure its own survival."
He
says that "Europe has always shown its solidarity with Greece, but the
euro cannot be an `a la carte' club in which you can pick and choose."
Rajoy
also said Sunday that "Greece needs to grow, create jobs, and to do so
it must have policies that work to that effect. Demagogy always ends up
crashing into reality."
--
4:40 p.m.
Even
if Greek voters strongly favor "yes" or "no" in the bailout referendum,
neither result leads to a clear answer for what Greece should do about
its overstretched finances.
A "yes" result
would likely produce a national unity government with a new election to
follow - but that would take time, and without financial assistance, the
chances of a full, chaotic default would increase.
Since
Greece is no longer in a bailout program, it has to negotiate a new one
with creditors that involves even more money for its debt-ridden
government and the banks and new economic austerity measures. That means
banking restrictions on money withdrawals and transfers may remain in
place even longer than anticipated.
Despite
the Greek government's assertion that a "no" vote will not lead to a
"Grexit" - a Greek exit from using the common euro currency - most
experts agree it would open up more uncertain financial outcomes.
A
number of European politicians, including Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the top
eurozone official, have said a "no" vote would jeopardize Greece's place
in the 19-nation eurozone.
---
3:05 p.m.
With four hours of voting to go, Greeks are turning out in solid numbers to vote on their financial future.
Private
Mega TV channel says turnout has been markedly high, now standing at 35
percent, and lines have been seen at polling stations in Athens.
Turnout must be above 40 percent for the referendum to be valid.
High turnouts are normal in Greece because voting is mandatory - although that law has not been enforced in recent years.
In
the country's first referendum since 1974, Greece's 9.8 million voters
are choosing Sunday whether to accept demands by international creditors
for more austerity measures in return for bailout loans.
---
2:10 p.m.
Germany's
foreign minister says a `no' vote in Greece's austerity referendum
won't make a future compromises with the country's creditors easier -
"on the contrary."
Still, Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier says Greeks have a right to vote on the future
of their country and Greece will remain a member of the 28-nation
European Union even if the referendum rejects the austerity demands
being made of Greece by international creditors.
Steinmeier
told Berlin's Tagesspiegel am Sonntag newspaper that the debt situation
in Greece, the unsolved problem of how to handle tens of thousands of
migrants flooding in across the Mediterranean and Britain's demands for
EU reforms are straining the EU's foundations.
He
warned Sunday that a "Grexit" - Greece dropping out of the common euro
currency used by 19 nations- would harm Europe's credibility in the
world.
---
1:45 p.m.
Opinion
polls this week have shown a generation divide in the Greek referendum -
with the "no" vote against more austerity measures far more popular
among younger Greek voters than older ones.
Retired
school teacher Themis Hatziyannaki, 84, voted `yes' Sunday at an Athens
high school, saying she wants to continue enjoying the privileges of
her Greek and European citizenship.
But she also says she understands that many young people want to vote "no" to express their anger at Greece's creditor
s. Unemployment in Greece for young people under 25 stands at a whopping 51.9 percent.
Hatziyannaki
says "I understand them, because when I was young I was a rebel." But
she said young people also have to consider what's best for Greece's
future and look at what older generations have endured.
----
1:15 p.m.
Greece's
finance minister says the referendum gives Greeks the opportunity to
decide on the austerity "ultimatum" they were handed by other countries
in the 19-nation eurozone.
Yanis Varoufakis
says the eurozone's "massive failures" led to demands for more austerity
measures that Greeks themselves needed to express their views on. He
said the vote on Sunday "gives hope to Europe that a common currency and
democracy can coexist."
Varoufakis spoke as he voted along with his 90-year-old father Giorgos in the southern Athens suburb of Faliro.
This is the first Greek referendum since 1974, when Greeks voted to abolish the monarchy.
(This corrects the spelling of Varoufakis' first name to Yanis).
---
12:45 p.m.
The
Greek referendum does not address whether Greece should abandon the
euro currency or leave the 28-member European Union, but many voters
believe those issues are at stake.
Polls
published Friday showed the two sides in a dead heat over whether to
accept creditors' demands for more austerity or reject them. But an
overwhelming majority of those polled - about 75 percent - wanted Greece
to remain among the 19 European nations using the shared euro currency.
Here's
the yes-or-no question Greeks face Sunday - and it's not an easy one:
"Must the agreement plan submitted by the European Commission, the
European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund to the
Eurogroup of 25 June, 2015, and comprised of two parts which make up
their joint proposal, be accepted? The first document is titled `reforms
for the completion of the current program and beyond' and the second
`Preliminary debt sustainability analysis.'"
---
11:40 a.m.
Greece's
prime minister says the country's austerity referendum is sending the
message that Greeks are embracing a united Europe but want to live "with
dignity."
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said
after casting a `no' ballot Sunday that the vote demonstrates the Greek
people's right to choose their own future. He said although many Greeks
may pick a different choice than the government, "no one can ignore the
will of the people to take their lives in their hands."
Tsipras said the referendum "defeats fear and ultimatums."
Tsipras
wants the "no" side to win. He says that will booster his negotiating
position to secure a better deal with creditors for loans to avoid a
default and a banking collapse.
---
11:20 a.m.
Which will help Greece more - voting "yes" or "no" to accepting more austerity demands from creditors?
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says a "no" vote would strengthen his hand to negotiate a better deal.
But
proponents of a "yes" vote, including a parade of former prime
ministers and the main opposition party, say backing his government will
jeopardize Greece's place in the club of 19 nations who use the common
euro currency. Instead, they argue by voting "yes" Greece would get a
new deal quickly to shore up its sinking economy.
Conservative
opposition leader Antonis Samaras cast his ballot Sunday, saying "we
vote `yes' to Greece. We vote `yes' to Europe."
---
10:25 a.m.
The
Greek referendum on whether or not to accept bailout demands by
creditors is causing deep divisions, even among individual families.
Dimitris
Danikoglous says he is voting "yes" because he fears Greece would be in
danger if it leaves the European Union. His daughter Alexandra is
voting "no" because she is tired of richer European nations bossing
Greece around.
His son, Nikolas, is on his
side - and he thinks polarized Greece may be on the verge of a civil
war. His wife Dimitra distrusts both the Yes and the No campaigns and
doesn't plan to vote in Sunday's momentous referendum.
In
their apartment in the working-class Athens neighborhood of Tavros, the
family members squabble over espresso frappes and fruit juice. Still,
they are united in their belief that only as a strong family can they
weather the coming storm.
---
7 a.m.
Polls
have opened across Greece in a hastily called referendum on whether the
EU country will accept the tough creditor conditions attached to loans
needed to avoid default and a banking collapse.
A
"no" may lead to a chaotic departure from the shared euro currency.
Even "yes" is no guarantee that creditors will agree to lend the
billions more euros needed to get the country back on its feet.
Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras is banking on fellow Greeks to deliver a
resounding "no" in the popular vote that he believes will give him
strong leverage in his negotiations with creditors - the EU and the
International Monetary Fund - to swing a softer bailout deal.
Proponents
of a "yes" vote, including the main opposition party, say backing the
government will jeopardize Greece's place in the 19-nation eurozone.
Instead, they argue voting "yes" will allow Greece to get a new bailout
deal quickly to shore up the economy.
