ATHENS: Greece was appealing to its euro zone partners and the European Central Bank on Wednesday to keep it afloat after defaulting on its debt to the International Monetary Fund and losing frozen international bailout money.
Athens was due to put new proposals for a two-year loan agreement and a debt rescheduling to Eurogroup finance ministers after hinting that leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras might be willing to scrap a referendum on bailout terms.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told colleagues the ruling Syriza party might even urge Greeks to vote “yes” in Sunday’s plebiscite if Athens is granted a loan, participants said. An opinion poll published on Wednesday showed the “no” camp in the lead after Tsipras urged voters to reject conditions he called humiliating, but it also showed the gap had narrowed after the government had to shut the banks and impose capital controls.
