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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Foreign Media Predict Tsipras Will Threaten for Referendum

The intention of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to appeal to the people in the form of a referendum if Greece’s creditors ask the Greek government to implement austerity measures that the Greek government cannot accept has been widely predicted by German and foreign media. In its article the German newspaper Die Zeit extensively presented the Greek Prime Minister’s interview on April 27, noting that Tsipras ruled out the possibility of another election and appeared optimistic in terms of reaching an agreement with Athens’ creditors. “Tsipras is preparing a referendum,” wrote the German newspaper Handelsblatt in its article on the Greek Prime Minister’s interview with journalist Nikos Chatzinikolaou. The newspaper adds that a referendum may not be necessary, since Tsipras is convinced Greece will ink a deal with its creditors. Frankfurter Allgemeine noted that Tsipras is threatening to ask for a referendum on the austerity program. Furthermore, the article made reference to the change that occurred regarding Greece’s negotiations with its creditors, noting that the Greek government is ready to come to a compromise with its creditors on the issue of privatization. Suddeutsche Zeitung also published an article focusing on Tsipras’ interview, noting that the Greek Prime Minister expects to reach an agreement with the European Union until May 9. Furthermore, he is also toying with the idea of a referendum in case Athens cannot comply with the creditor’s requests, while he claims that there will not be another election. German tabloid Bild describes Tsipras’ interview as a “roaring” attack against German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Merkel is politically weak, that is why she cannot admit that her Greek policy of the past few years did not work,” Bild quoted Tsipras. The interview makes it clear that Tsipras sees himself as the victim and feels that he is being unfairly treated by the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank, wrote the tabloid. BBC highlighted the possibility of Greece reaching an agreement with its creditors by next week in its report on Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ Monday night interview. “Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said Greece is in the final, critical stretch of talks with its international creditors and that he believes an interim deal will be in place by May 9,” the article noted.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com