Varoufakis: We couldn't accept creditors' proposals
Yanis Varoufakis is now giving a press conference in Brussels. He is telling reporters that Greece couldn’t accept the recessionary consequences of the proposals from its lenders.
Nor did we have the mandate to reject them - only the Greek people could decide.
And he criticises Greece’s creditors for trying to drag Greece back to its old bailout terms rather than allowing it to breath and return to growth.
He claims that there is still time to improve the proposals - and that Greece would work ‘night and day’ to achieve this.
And Varoufakis ends by attacking his fellow finance ministers:
The refusal of the eurogroup today to endorse our request for an extension of this agreement for a few days, a couple of weeks, to allow the Greek people to vote on their proposals - even when there is a very high probability that Greeks will go against our recommendation and vote yes - will certainly damage the credibility of the eurogroup as a democratic union of partner member state.
I’m very much afraid that damage will be permanent.
Reuters has snapped the key points:
GREEK FINMIN VAROUFAKIS SAYS I EXPLAINED TO EURO ZONE COLLEAGUES WHY WE COULD NOT ACCEPT PROPOSALS
GREEK FINMIN VAROUFAKIS SAYS BAILOUT TERMS WERE RECESSIONARY, FINANCING TERMS DID NOT ADD UP, NO ELEMENTS TO SUGGEST PLAN COULD END CRISIS
GREEK FINMIN VAROUFAKIS SAYS I EXPLAINED WE DID NOT HAVE MANDATE TO SIGN UP TO NON-VIABLE PROPOSALS, BUT NO MANDATE TO REJECT THE PROPOSALS WITHOUT CONSULTING THE PEOPLE
GREEK FINMIN VAROUFAKIS SAYS WE ARE ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED TO FIND SOLUTION
GREEK FINMIN VAROUFAKIS SAYS GREEK PEOPLE WILL BE ASKED WHETHER THEY ACCEPT PROPOSALS, THERE IS ROOM TO CONTINUE NEGOTIATING NIGHT AND DAY TO IMPROVE LENDERS’ PROPOSALS
VAROUFAKIS - REFUSAL OF EUROGROUP TO ENDORSE REQUEST TO EXTEND BAILOUT FOR FEW WEEKS WILL DAMAGE EUROGROUP CREDIBILITY, DAMAGE MAY BE PERMANENT