Eurozone torn on Greece’s inclusion, post-referendum – Deutsche Welle

The Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has said he will resign if the Greek people vote “yes” in Sunday’s referendum.

Asked on Bloomberg TV whether, come Monday, if there is a yes vote, he will not be finance minister, Varoufakis said: “

I will not.”

Tsipras said he was putting the terms of a bailout to a July 5 vote and urged Greeks to vote “no”, saying Greece wouldn’t be allowed to leave the eurozone because “the cost would be too high”.

A vote is also due in Greece’s Council of State, the top administrative court, which will rule if it contravenes the country’s constitution. Wolfgang Schaeuble, the powerful German finance minister who lost patience with Greece months ago, was the most critical of Greece’s on-again, off-again proposals to reach a compromise that would take the edge off austerity while ensuring a fresh flow of bailout funds.

Earlier, he told the ABC that the government “may very well” quit if the public went against it in Sunday’s plebiscite and voted for more austerity in return for worldwide bailout funds.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras resisted the pressure, however, insisting a “No” vote would give the government a stronger negotiating position.

The International Monetary Fund said that for Greece to meet the debt targets outlined in the 2012 bailout agreement it is likely that creditors will need to take a haircut equivalent to a reduction in debt of over 30 per cent of Greece’s GDP.

“If it’s the yes, even if it’s on the basis of proposals that have already expired, negotiations can resume and I imagine be quickly concluded”, he said during a visit to Cotonou, Benin.

Greeks face massive uncertainty, while for many, particularly the elderly, the daily struggle is to get cash for living expenses.

The remarks added to the frantic and at times surreal atmosphere of recent days in which acrimonious messages from the leftist government have alternated with late-night offers of concessions to restart negotiations.

French economist Thomas Picketty, author of the best-selling book on inequality “Capital in the 21st Century”, has said a Greek exit from the eurozone would be “catastrophic” and the “beginning of the end” for the zone, reiterating calls for a “no” vote. That means a completely new agreement has to be negotiated.

Varoufakis told Bloomberg that he would “rather cut my arm off” than sign a deal that fails to restructure Greece’s debt. Varoufakis said the main disagreement between the two sides was the notion of easing the terms on Greece’s debt.

In the case of a yes vote, the leftist Syriza government would sign the deal.

Europe’s talks with Greece are on hold until after the referendum. Moody’s slashed the country’s rating from Caa2 to Caa3, or just above default.