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                 Greeks Divided on Sunday's Bailout Referendum

   by VOA News

   A poll of Greeks likely to vote in Sunday's referendum on a European
   bailout proposal indicated they are nearly evenly divided between an up
   or down vote.

   The poll of 1,000 people conducted by the ALCO company for the To Ethos
   newspaper June 30 and July 1 indicated 44.8 percent of respondents said
   they would vote "yes" on the bailout terms, while 43.4 percent would
   vote "no" and 11.8 percent are undecided.

   Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is campaigning for a "no" vote,
   saying it will give Greece more bargaining power in future negotiations
   with its European creditors.

   Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said in a televised interview this
   week that if voters accept the EU creditors' bailout proposal, the
   government "may very well" quit and he "will not" be finance minister
   by Monday.

   Eurozone vote

   European leaders have warned that a "no" vote in the referendum would
   amount to Greece becoming the first country to leave the 19-nation
   eurozone during the common currency's 16-year history.

   Supporters for the "yes" vote - meaning Greece accepts creditors'
   proposals for more austerity measures in exchange for more loans - said
   the referendum amounts to a vote on whether Greece wants to stay in the
   eurozone.

   Meanwhile, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told
   German daily Die Welt that the referendum doesn't correspond to the
   current status of negotiations because the bailout terms expired this
   week.

   Financial plight

   Thursday brought more bad news for Greece, as the International
   Monetary Fund announced that Greece's financial plight is even worse
   than it first thought.

   The IMF largely blamed the leftist government of Prime Minister
   Tsipras, saying that it has been slow to sell off state assets and will
   need debt relief and another $56 billion in new bailout loans through
   2018.

   The IMF said that four years ago it had predicted that Athens would
   raise $55 billion by privatizing government properties through the end
   of this year, but so far the government has only collected $3.5
   billion.

   Greece is cut off from further European aid, after failing Tuesday to
   meet a midnight deadline for repaying $1.8 billion owed the IMF. That
   default marked the first time a developed country has not met a payment
   deadline on an IMF loan.
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   erendum/2847349.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/greeks-divided-on-sundays-bailout-referendum/2847349.html