Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos has warned that the country will run out of money within six weeks, unless it honors its bitterly-disputed EU bailout deal.
Pangalos said he was “very much afraid of what is going to happen” after Greek voters rejected the deal in elections last week.
“The majority of the people voted for a very strange mental construction,” The Telegraph quoted Pangalos, as saying.
“We want to be in the EU and the euro, but we don’t want to pay anything for the past,” he added.
According to the paper, the main beneficiary of the election, the hard-Left Syriza coalition, came a startling second on a promise to tear up the deal, which promises EU loans to keep massively-indebted Greece afloat, but demands crippling spending cuts in return.
Germany, which is the principal lender, said it will stop payments if Greece breaks its promises on spending.
Pangalos warned that “there is a school of thought that says the Germans are bluffing.”
“They need Greece and will never throw us out of the eurozone. But what will happen, which is almost certain, is they will not give us the money to pay our debts. We will be in wild bankruptcy, out-of-control bankruptcy,” the paper quoted Pangalos as saying.
“The state will not be able to pay salaries and pensions. This is not recognized by the citizens. We have until June before we run out of money,” he added.
(source: Telegraph, AFP)
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
