Greek government begins a dynamic race to reach an agreement after the Greek referendum. After the resignation of Yiannis Varoufakis and his tactical replacement from his position as finance minister, now the National Council of political leaders sits presidential palace and will discuss plans for negotiations. Together with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, seated at the same table are the leader of SYRIZA coalition, the head of Independent Greeks, Panos Kamenos, the head of the party River Stavros Theodorakis, interim president of the New Democracy party Evangelos Meimarakis, who was appointed to this position by Antonis Samaras immediately after Monday’s resignation from his leadership, president of PASOK Fofi Genimata, the head of the Communist Party, Dimitris Kucubas. The Council only lacks Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos.
At the Council, it is expected to hear the requests and ideas of the opposition parties and the government’s plans after the loud “no” of the citizens at the referendum, creating a political earthquake in Greece. The final outcome of the referendum was 61.3 percent of the votes against the measures versus 38.6 percent of votes “for” the measures. The referendum took 62.5 percent of registered voters. Although this figure gives strength to Tsipras to independently return to Brussels to negotiate, the replacement of Varoufakis and consultations with political leaders show a new tactic of moderate steps, instead of strong opposition that would show Europe that the Greek government sincerely wants to reach an agreement.
Tsipras’ statement during the address last night, in which he indicated that he doesn’t plan to jeopardize the future of Greece in the Eurozone, commenting that he was aware that the votes of the referendum is not an order to exit from the Eurozone and the European Union, but an order to intensify negotiating forces to achieve sustainable agreement, is key. The media speculate that European lenders even late last night asked certain things of Tsipras, as a change of the negotiating team, only one of the stringent requirements that are expected to be put on the table for reaching an agreement.
