Greece would need new currency if it votes ‘No’: Schulz

BERLIN: Greece will have to introduce another currency if it votes ‘No’ in the referendum on its potential bailout terms, European Parliament president Martin Schulz said on German radio.
He told Deutschlandfunk that, in the event of a ‘No’ result, Greece would “have to introduce some other currency because the euro is not available as a means of payment.”
“And how do they plan to pay salaries? How do they plan to pay pensions?“
“Only at the moment where somebody introduces a new currency does he exit the eurozone,” Schulz added.
“And those are elements which lead me to hope that the people today won’t vote ‘No’.”
Separately he told a German newspaper that Europe would not “desert” the people of Greece regardless of the outcome of the referendum and may provide it emergency loans.
He said in an interview with Germany’s Welt a.m. Sonntag newspaper that the Athens government had maneuvered the heavily-indebted country “into a dead end.”
“Perhaps we will have to give emergency bridging loans to Greece so that public service can be maintained and needy people get the money they need to survive,” he said.
“For that, money would be available short term in Brussels,” he added.
But he warned this would not be a lasting solution.
Millions of Greeks have voted in a crucial referendum that could decide the country’s fate in the eurozone, with two TV polls suggesting a ‘No’ result might prevail.
Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras has urged a ‘No’ vote. A telephone poll by the Star television channel carried out during voting and the day before gave a 49-54 percent range for ‘No’ votes against 46-51 percent for ‘Yes’.
A similar Mega channel survey, broadcast shortly after polling ended, suggested a 49.5-53.5 percent ‘No’ vote and 46.5-50.5 percent for ‘Yes’.
DefenSe minister Panos Kammenos said in a tweet after polling closed that the Greeks “proved they don’t bow to blackmail, to threats.” The radical left government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had lobbied for a ‘No’ result, arguing it would strengthen its hand in negotiations with international creditors.
“No one can ignore the will of the people to live, to live with determination, to take its destiny into its own hands,” Tsipras said as he cast his ballot in his Athens neighborhood, appearing relaxed and wearing an open-necked white shirt.
But EU leaders have warned a ‘No’ vote could push Greece on the path to “Grexit” — crashing out of the euro zone.
Greece’s voters — many of them angry or fearful at capital controls this week that have shuttered banks and rationed ATM withdrawals — were asked in the referendum whether or not they accepted further grinding austerity in return for European bailout funds. The question related to a bailout package that expired on Tuesday, the same day Greece became the first developed country to default on a repayment to the International Monetary Fund.
“We’re voting ‘No’ but we’re afraid. But when we vote ‘Yes’, we’re afraid as well. We’re afraid on both sides,” Nadia, a 63-year-old retired teacher on the island of Poros, near Athens, said after voting, her eyes red from crying.
“When you have to choose between two bad solutions, you choose the least bad, and that’s clearly ‘Yes’,” said Dimitris Kavouklis, 42, as he voted in an upmarket district of the capital.