Latest poll shows narrow lead for Yes vote ahead of referendum decision 8.15am BST Greeks are being asked a question in the referendum which is not factually or legally correct, according to European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis has said.In an interview with Die Welt, he said:The referendum question is neither factually nor legally correct.The proposals of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are to be voted on are based on a now expired credit program. The Euro Group has not accepted or declined. They do not correspond to the final state of negotiations - as Tsipras announced the referendum, we were still in the middle of the talks. The Greeks, however, on Sunday will also send a political signal to the rest of Europe. A yes will mean that they want to work closely with the other euro-zone countries to find a solution. A No would make the differences even more evident, and a solution more complicated.It would be wrong to assume that a No would strengthen the Greek negotiating position. The opposite is the case. Following the closure of banks and the introduction of capital controls to attain financial stability again, it has become more complicated and more expensive. Greece is in a substantially worse situation than it was last week. 8.03am BST Markets have opened cautiously, with the FTSE 100 down just 4 points, Germany off 0.3% and Italy, Spain and France flat. 8.00am BST On the economic front, there are service sector PMI figures due from Italy, France, Germany and the eurozone as a whole, as well as the UK.The US, of course, is closed for the Independence Day holiday. 7.56am BST Greece’s finance minister clearly relishes the IMF saying the country needs an agreement on debt relief:IMF Agrees With Athens That Greece Needs Debt Relief - The New York Times http://t.co/5c6vp0Y407 7.54am BST As the referendum clock ticks down towards Sunday’s vote, there is still an outside chance it will not even go ahead.The Council of State, Greece’s top administrative court, is due to rule on whether it breaches the country’s constitution. Human rights group the Council of Europe has alaready expressed unhappiness with the vote, partly due to the speed of the process and also the question being asked.Post-referendum looks pretty bleak for Greece either way but a ‘No’ vote carries a lot more short term risk. Evidence from the past five months is surely enough to show that muddling out-of-touch bureaucrats in Athens and the Eurozone will not reach a deal before there’s a banking crisis. Without the European Central Bank’s emergency funding, estimates are that Greece’s banks are days from insolvency, even with only 60 euros being withdrawn a day under capital controls. Continue reading...
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