Greek PM Alex Tsipras (top) and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis voting today
The first results that have come through from the Greek referendum are pointing to a “no” vote after the polls closed at 5pm (Irish time) today.
The Greek government has set up a live website which will update as the results trickle in – it’s showing that with 14.09 per cent of the vote counted, 60.23 per cent voted “no” and 39.77 per cent voted “yes”.
Early Returns Show Greeks Reject Terms of E.U. Bailout (New York Times)
Greece heads towards historic no vote against austerity measures (The Guardian)
Getty/AP
Ah here.
Athens, Greece tonight.
Thanks Tanit Koch
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Let the games begin….
Fair play Greece. Democracy in action.
+1
More courage than we showed.
how do you work that out?
I don’t remember us having a referendum, if we had I’m sure just like Greece we’d have voted no.
We didn’t have a referendum because we didn’t force our government to respect and reflect our views. Bit of moaning and grumbling but that was it. Either a lack of courage or apathy – have whichever you like. I’m not convinced the Greeks are doing the right thing (only time will tell), but, either way, I respect them for it.
when was the last time they listened to us, point in case is Irish Water. all them protests and it still exists and a new law to ensure payment. we didn’t vote in people that would listen to us we voted in a carbon copy of the last government. in effect we’re the harbingers of our own Doom but not breaking from our habit of sticking with the same few political parties. we are all to blame, you me and every voting body on this island. let’s show some cop on at the next election.
That’s all true – you get the government you deserve etc. I w oi uldnt say we’re all equally to blame though (I’ve never voted FG or FF for starters)
Irish water was in the program for government so they did listen to us as we put them in.
Damn straight, I’ve been saying this for ages.
I doubt that. And if it was a no, we’d just be told to have a do-over, just like the Nice referendum or whatever it was. None of our politicians would dare go over our EU masters heads.
Yes, we voted no and the government went back and negotiated better terms.
Sound familiar?
You are the most cowardly person I have ever come across.
ever?
I get the impression Brian is either two beers in or really giddy he can stay up late on school holidays.
congrats to Greece you’ve just broken the chains of this financial farce, fair play….it’s a pity we don’t have politicians smart and brave enough to cut thru the troika horsesht
Already reading the -ve comments coming in from the mechanisms on the squawk…JP Morgan, Goldman the French & Germans…..”but but but ze broke ze rules! they vill have to leave the EU”
loada horsesht! We need to thank the Greeks bigtime, now we will get to see the whites of the EU’s eyes….get a real look into the soul…what IS the European Union all about??? Is it still the brilliant solidarity project that has kept us in post WWII peace? If a Greek default means they have to leave the Euro that would be a political retaliation….just watch the German reaction now
I can’t wait to see what our idiot Pinocchio has to say now (whatever he’s told to obv) the spin machine will be well and truly deployed but it’ll have to be a bloody Dyson!!!!
That’s quite the rant.
Yes, kick anything that is enthusiastic for change. Typical coward.
Greece running out of money and goods is a result of democracy in action. It’s not always a good thing.
Elaborate Jonotti,if you can.Your vague suggestions are somewhat vacuous without some detail.
You are the Ghost train of Broadsheet.
That’s unfair. People like ghost trains.
Thank you Greece!!
How is this democracy in action?
An idiotic democracy rewarded clientilism, incompetence & tax evasion for decades – paid for by excess borrowing. All under a lax regime, overseen by democratic govts.
Then, they received a bailout – which, whether they like it or not, their democratic govt accepted.
Now, they have voted to wash their hands of these debts.
It may well be that other democracies will end up footing the bill – including poorer (and more responsible) eastern European states.
But democracy in action? Not in any positive sense of the term.
They voted for a deal that no longer exists. They had 9 days for a referendum. Hardly a fair question. People voted 5 months ago for a government to negotiate and they screwes it up royally.
This is not democracy. Having your first referendum in 41 years at the final hurdle of a dept. payment, and telling your people to vote no is not democracy…. it’s a government hiding behind their people. Democracy would have been to have this vote when the terms of the loans were made at the time of borrowing, not at the time of payment.
I’m sorry Greece, but that is not the result we want.
Go and vote again.
I have a question that I haven’t seen answered recently (and I have to admit I haven’t been paying a huge amount of attention for various reasons)
It’s my understanding that Syrzia ran and were voted in on an anti-austerity platform. They had a mandate for this. Why exactly has this even gone to a referendum, isn’t the ‘no’ result exactly what they stood for when they ran for election?
I suppose it’s because the troika don’t give a fupp about their mandate and Syrzia wanted to reiterate what the people of Greece actually want and do not want.
I think they feel this will strengthen the Greek position in the next round of talks (which will, of course, happen)
that’s not really an answer
yes it is
Giving Greece a mandate to take more of our money of us wasn’t really what I had in mind.
90% of the bailout money didn’t go to greece. it went to german banks.
According to Tsipras, it’s because they won the elections with 35(?)% of the vote and he didn’t feel that gave them sufficient mandate to take such a momentuous step; he wanted 51% of the electorate.
Bullplop, if course. It’s so that he can point the finger at the electorate if and when the poo really hits the fan.
Because dumb: you.
You’re too complimentary
Europe doesn’t like hearing no. Look at the reruns Ireland had on EU referendums. I feel the lack of transparency and lack of democracy is about to be unmasked.
Oxi! Oxi! Oxi!
Oy! Oy! Oy!
Still broke still needing others people’s money….
we do indeed. Eire go broke.
but enough about Amanda Brunker
…thanks to our right wing politicians and our banksters
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said tonight on Greek referendum polls: “If these poll figures are correct, I commend the Greek people for calling the EU’s bluff. The EU project is now dying. It’s fantastic to see the courage of the Greek people in the face of political and economic bullying from Brussels.”
Nigel Farage exposed as broadsheet lefty, news at 11
but the Greek isn’t leftist! and they are supported in parliament by the far right.
…ok Greece…visit soon…buy Greek immediately…anything else that might show a tiny bit of solidarity?
A tattoo?
…ok…even I laughed..
A feta laughter!
O luv that pun.
Unorthodox
What a great idea – visit Greece and be a target for mugging as someone who actually has a few quid in their pocket.
It’s a bold strategy cotton, lets see if it pays off for em
http://i.imgur.com/hJRUBTK.jpg
Hard to argue with Germany’s Economics Minister:
Sigmar Gabriel said, Mr Tsipras had “torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise”.
Greece are truly focked.
compromise means doing it the German way of course
it’s only hard to argue with him if you reckon more austerity is the way forward.
Congratulations Greece.
Paul Mason does a nice round up…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xsCagry-0g
Cheers Clampers.
He’s quite animated, and squeezes in quite a bit of thought to a couple of minutes.
When something is welcomed by the loony left and the far right alike, then it’s invariably something bad.
For example?
Well done Greece!
Will Enda Kenny be on the phone to congratulate Alex Tsipras on his NO
vote success, or will he comeserate with Angela Merkel on the crash of the
grand plan, this is only the beginning, wait till Spain reacts, and here next, it will
spread across Europe, no one will allow an unelected elite run and dictate
to the Nations of Europe, ruin them with austerity, strangle them with bureaucracy
and then rob them, just as the Nations of Eastern Europe revolted against political
oppression, the Western ones are now revolting against ecconomic oppression.
Strange the tide of History, especially when the Greeks use the “Hand of History”
to strike the telling stroke, 5th of July will be remembered for a long time to come.
Will the banks be open in the morning? Will there be any cash left?
Party on tonight in Greece but they are still going to have to go back to EU and ask for more cash. They want other people’s money without any reform in return.
Playing hardball all round. Food riots in week unless some emergency fix is found.
Tsipras reckons he’s strengthened his bargaining power with Europe now, and I reckon he’s right. But surely they don’t want to continue down the bailout route with Europe? (I think we can all agree that that’s not working).
Why don’t they just not pay back their creditors, leave the Euro (and the EU if necessary – Norway and Switzerland seem to be doing OK) and start printing Drachmas. Start from zero again. They have a kick-ass tourism industry, an educated population, some good food to export, I reckon they’d do OK.
60% of the population just said F off to Europe, so the public appetite seems to be there. It would take balls, but why not?
How would they pay back the creditors? The loans are in Euro – if they return to the drachma, that will sink like a stone and their debt would *massively* increase.
Don’t pay them back. The people/institutions/countries owed money don’t get their money back. As far as I can gather, it happens, and is a risk they assumed when they lent the money.
But I should point out that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
We’d never have guessed
They’re going to need loans/bonds no matter what. If they’ve just defaulted on 60bn worth of debt or however much it is, noone is going to be falling over themselves to lend to them.
The owe 320 Billion so paying creditors back is not going to happen.
The resignation of Varoufakis is a surprise. He got the result he wanted but now walks away.
The banks are still closed today, with talk of the €60 limit being reduced.
Its going to get a whole lot rougher for the Greeks in the short term.
He is central to the whole thing. He has a popular mandate so any deal his boss makes will be viewed in the critical light of what would Varoufakis do here? He knows full well that if he stays however he would then have to implement stinging austerity no matter what the outcome is, so this way he gets to look like a “greek God” and walk away from repercussions.
The bottom line is that Greece will get a huge write-off now, so will Spain and little old best boy in class, Ireland, will end up paying for it, as we’re not in the right gang. This could be the catalyst for UK to leave though in my opinion. I can’t see them paying for this.
varoufakis has resigned because the other eu finance ministers hate his guts and don’t want to deal with him any more. it’s to make the next negotiations a bit easier for greece.
he says as much in his “minister no more” letter.
do we have to give them another €280 million now?
We could just get the money we gave Denis back and pay with that, and we’d have 50 million left over to fund Tulsa *and* have a party…
LOL
We all Partied
Can we just be clear…this idea that Greece have said no to reform….is pure bullpoo…. they are not some petulant child stamping their feet screaming No, No, No, they are saying no to further crushing austerity. Dont believe every headline you read in the rags.
Nothing knew then.
A sovereign default is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_default#Examples_of_sovereign_default