BRUSSELS, July 6. /TASS/. The consequences of the referendum for Greece’s future are regrettable, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Monday.
"I take note of the outcome of the Greek referendum. This result is very regrettable for the future of Greece. For recovery of the Greek economy, difficult measures and reforms are inevitable. We will now wait for the initiatives of the Greek authorities. The Eurogroup will discuss the state of play on Tuesday 7 July," Dijsselbloem said.
A total of 61.31% of Greeks spoke against the terms of agreement with creditors on Greece’s debt. This is the outcome of Sunday’s referendum announced by the Interior Ministry after 100% of ballots were processed. The terms proposed by the creditors were supported by 38.69% of those who voted.
A total of 62.5% of registered voters took part in the plebiscite. Overall, 6.2 million people voted at 19,200 polling stations.
The Greek government on July 1 sent a new proposal to the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB). In the proposal, Athens expressed readiness to accept an agreement with the "troika" with account for a number of amendments suggested by Greece.
On July 5, a government-appointed referendum took place, at which the population was asked to speak "for" or "against" proposals of the EC, the IMF and the ECB on the settlement of the Greek debt problem.
The people were asked to decide whether the government should accept a draft deal presented by the "troika" at a meeting of the Eurogroup on June 25, 2015. The document of creditors consists of two parts - reforms to complete the current program and preliminary analysis of the debt’s stability.
The Greek government is convinced that the people’s support of its position at the referendum will allow it to quickly strike an agreement with the creditors. In turn, representatives of the creditors called not to hold plebiscite and said the "no" answer could result in the country’s secession from the Eurozone.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in his televised address to the nation after the announcement of preliminary results of the referendum that from Monday, Greece will return to the negotiating table. "The immediate priority will be restoration of the [country’s] banking system. This time, the problem of debt [restructuring] will also be at the negotiating table," he said.
The IMF published on July 2 its analytical report dedicated to the Greek debt problem. It concluded that further reduction of the rates of structural reforms and the primary budget surplus in Greece would make impossible the servicing of the country’s foreign debt and would require the write-off of its part as well as the granting to Athens within the next three years plus of some 52 billion euros in new loans.