Greek prime minister rejects stepping aside | News - Home‘Nothing of the kind’
The conversations below took place during the “Cannes Interrogation,” which was also attended by International Monetary Fund President Christine Lagarde:
Papandreou: “I need to put the austerity package and the agreement to a referendum.”
Sarkozy: “Nothing of the kind. We already held three negotiations for this agreement.”
Lagarde: “What are you talking about? I announced that the IMF would give its fair share without waiting for the executive board’s decision so that you would not go bankrupt. Now you come and say you will hold a referendum.”
Papandreou, who came out of the “interrogation” in complete exhaustion, attempted to save the situation by changing his narrative. He talked of the referendum without referring to which question the Greek people would be answering and demonstrated he would comply with the Merkel-Sarkozy ultimatum.
During the plane ride home from Cannes to Greece, the following conversation reportedly took place between the prime minister and his deputy,
Venizelos:
-“Yorgo, give up on the referendum.”
-“Impossible, I have made my decision.”
-“But I also have to declare my opposition.”
“The euro that represents an indisputable victory for the Greek people cannot be subjected to a referendum,” Venizelos said, as soon as he was back in Athens.
