EUROZONE-GREECE/TALKS REAX-POLL Greeks want deal with lenders as Athens delays IMF payment

Record ID: 150156

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/TALKS REAX-POLL Greeks want deal with lenders as Athens delays IMF payment
  • Date: 5th June 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, DIMITRIS KARAMANOS, SAYING: "We want the government to clinch a deal so we can exit this dead end because we are in a limbo and it's a shame for Greece." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, NIKOS, SAYING: "We are all very concerned. We must stay within the euro zone." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, YANNIS VARSOS, SAYING: "We want
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3FZQ34H6PSUEKS7FZPAT1S5HJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greeks expressed their agony on Friday (June 5) over the country's future following the latest standoff in talks between Greece and its creditors.
    Greece delayed the debt payment to the International Monetary Fund as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras demanded changes to tough terms from international creditors for aid to stave off default.
    But Athens residents said an agreement with the country's lenders was of utmost importance. Some said they feared Greece's exit from the euro zone bloc - the so-called "Grexit".
    "We want the government to clinch a deal so we can exit this dead end because we are in a limbo and it's a shame for Greece," said pensioner Dimitris Karamanos.
    "We are all very concerned. We must stay within the euro zone," said another pensioner Nikos who did not wish to give his last name.
    "We must stay in the euro zone but with fair and applicable measures, nothing more," said Katerina Papadopoulou.
    Greece's younger generation also expressed concern and said political stability and economic security were necessary if the debt-laden country was to have a better future.
    "We want a government which will be confident and provide political stability. We cannot continue with this instability, not knowing what the next day will bring us," said Yannis Varsos.
    Greek newspapers reflected the citizen's feelings with daily Ta Nea running on its front page "(Talks) behind the scenes gave birth to a monster" while Eleftheros Typos headline read: "Storm of measures - Hard landing with a hefty bill for the citizens."
    As details of the confidential lenders' proposal trickled out, members of Tsipras' government and his Syriza party denounced the conditions as unacceptable.
    Deputy Social Security Minister Dimitris Stratoulis, a hardliner in the government, said on Friday Greece's government may call early elections if the international lenders do not soften their terms for the deal.
    But in a poll published on Friday, nearly one in two Greeks is in favour of the government reaching a deal with the country's lenders, and three out of four want to stay in the euro zone.
    The poll by Alco for news website Newsit showed 45 percent of Greeks want the leftist-led government to agree a deal with creditors even if this meant having to compromise.
    The poll showed that 75 percent of Greeks are firmly in favour of staying in the euro zone, which the country might eventually exit in the event of defaulting on its debt, and 37 percent support early elections to resolve the standoff over the cash-for-reforms deal.
    The Greek prime minister is due to brief parliament on negotiations with the country's EU/IMF lenders at 1500 GMT on Friday.
    An EU source said Tsipras could return to Brussels for further talks late on Friday night or Saturday (June 6), possibly along with top IMF and ECB officials.
    Time is running out for Athens to clinch a deal and get disbursements approved by national parliaments before its bailout programme expires at the end of June.
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