Greece holds last-minute talks after Juncker’s new offer

Last-minute talks are ongoing in Athens over whether Greece should accept a new offer by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker allowing the country to repay part of its debt.

Juncker’s offer proposes a change in terms to Ekas- a top-up given to poorer Greek pensioners that Europe wants phased out before 2020.
The Ekathimerini newspaper reported that the Greek government "listened with interest to what was being proposed" but rejected the offer. 

However, Greece's national broadcaster ERT said on Tuesday morning that discussions about the proposals were taking place "at the highest level" in Athens.

If Greece accepts the deal, it will free up bailout funds that will allow it to repay a €1.6 billion loan to the International Monetary Fund, the deadline of which is only hours away. If a deal is not agreed, Greece may have to default on its loans.  

Negotiations between Greece and its creditors broke down last week, leading to Greek banks having to shut this week. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced that a referendum will take place in Greece on Sunday over whether the country should accept the creditors’ proposals.

Tsipras has appealed to Greeks to reject the creditors’ proposals, arguing that doing so would give Greece “more powerful weapons” to send to the negotiating table. He strongly hinted that he would resign if the referendum resulted in a “yes” vote in favour of the bailout reforms.

"We ask you to reject it with all the might of your soul, with the greatest margin possible," Tsipras said live on state TV on Monday evening.

Mr Tsipras also hinted strongly that he would resign if the result of the referendum was a "yes" vote. "If the Greek people want to proceed with austerity plans in perpetuity, which will leave us unable to lift our head... we will respect it, but we will not be the ones to carry it out," he said.

EU leaders have warned that a No vote would mean Greece leaving the Eurozone, but Tsipras has insisted that he does not want this to happen.

Juncker said that he felt betrayed by Tsipras’ government and called on Greek voters to oppose their Prime Minister.

After Tsipras announced his referendum plans, the European Central Bank decided not to extend its emergency funding to Greek banks. This led Tsipras to order all banks to remain closed until 6 July and ATM withdrawals to be capped at just €60 a day. Yet, long queues of people are continuing to snake from many ATMs regardless.

Around 1,000 bank branches will re-open from Wednesday to allow pensioners - many of whom do not use bank cards - to withdraw a maximum to €120.