EUROZONE-GREECE/BANKS-STOCK MARKET Anxious Greeks wake up to closed banks, stock exchange

Record ID: 148940

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/BANKS-STOCK MARKET Anxious Greeks wake up to closed banks, stock exchange
  • Date: 29th June 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JUNE 29, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CLOSED BANKS / SHUTTER DOORS CLOSED BANK STAFF OUTSIDE BANK DOORS PEOPLE OUTSIDE BANK WITH CLOSED DOOR NATIONAL BANK SIGN WOMAN WALKING TO BANK DOOR, STAFF ASKING HER WHAT SHE IS DOING, SHE SAYS SHE WANTS TO GO TO THE BANK, MAN SAYS IT WILL OPEN AT NOON VARIOUS OF SYNTAGMA SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) PENSION
  • Embargoed: 14th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GXBH6S63WT23EL64IARUV5PE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greeks woke up to shuttered banks, closed cash machines and a climate of rumours and conspiracy theories on Monday (June 29), as a breakdown in talks between Athens and its creditors pushed the austerity-battered country to the brink.
    After receiving no extra emergency funding for Greek lenders from the European Central Bank, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reluctantly imposed capital controls on Sunday (June 28) night to prevent banks from collapsing under the weight of mass withdrawals.
    Banks were to stay closed until July 6. At noon the ATMs were said to be functioning again but there withdrawals will be restricted to 60 euros a day.
    The Athens Stock Exchange will also remain closed for transactions, also until July 6, a spokeswoman said on Monday.
    Greece has less than 48 hours to pay back a 1.6 billion loan to the IMF, and a default could set off a chain of events that could turf the country out of the euro currency bloc. But after Tsipras angered Greece's international lenders by announcing a snap referendum on the terms of a cash-for-reforms deal, hopes of a last minute breakthrough are fading fast.
    In the streets of Athens, Greek anger was directed both at the government and the lenders, whose bailout proposals were deemed unacceptable and unviable by Tsipras, who then decided to put it to a referendum.
    "The Greek people are going to pay for Mr Tsipras's ambition and his ego. Mr Tsipras thought he would be able to save Europe and unite the south. But he didn't tell us who his friends were. It's all because of his ambition and his ego"," said Zafiria, a pensioner.
    "The institutions' ultimatum on the night of the 27th, and (European Commission President Jean-Claude) Juncker's sudden proposal, I am wondering if he would dare do the same in France, Germany or even Luxembourg, his country of origin. Would he dare intervene, when there is a decision to have a referendum , and say 'it is not the way it is, its how I say it is'? said Manolis Bousoulis, an economist.
    Pensioners will be exempt from capital controls but in a number of places they were waiting for banks to open to give them access.
    "Its a problem yes" said Nikos, a pensioner.
    "If its just for a week (capital controls) it won't be such a big problem. The whole thing with the banks is not such a big deal. Its the future, what will happen with the referendum, that is the big issue," said Stamatis, another pensioner.
    After months of wrangling, Greece's exasperated European partners have put the blame for the crisis squarely on Tsipras' shoulders.
    The creditors wanted Greece to cut pensions and raise taxes in ways that Tsipras has long argued would deepen one of the worst economic crises of modern times in a country where a quarter of the workforce is already unemployed.
    Newspapers splashed pictures of long lines outside cash machines on their front page, with the Nafetemporiki daily headlining its edition with "Dramatic hours" while the Ta Nea daily simply said: "When will the banks open".
    The conservative-leaning Eleftheros Typos newspaper accused Tsipras of announcing the referendum as a rouse to tip the country into early elections in the hopes of winning them.
    The headline over a pictures of Tsipras read: 'Pre-meditated crime' whilst a photograph of queues outside ATMSs had: 'Life of Drama with capital controls'
    "Mr Tsipras's decision to call a referendum and a possible euro exit constitutes a premeditated crime," it said in an editorial. "It is clear that Mr Tsipras has lost the trust of citizens. That's obvious from the queues at ATMs and petrol stations, and it will become obvious a next Sunday's ballot."
    After announcing the referendum, Tsipras asked for an extension of Greece's existing bailout until after the July 5th vote. Eurozone officials refused, and in his televised address Tsipras bemoaned the refusal as an "unprecedented act".
    As speculation of capital controls have increased over the past two weeks, Greeks have pulled billions of euros out of their accounts.
    The euro has fallen sharply against the dollar and safe-haven U.S. government debt futures rallied as investors exhibited fears of a Greek default and exit from the eurozone.
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