Top European Official Says Greece Will Need New Currency if It Votes 'No'
Greece will have to introduce another currency if it votes 'No' in Sunday's referendum on its potential bailout terms, European Parliament president Martin Schulz said on German radio.
He told Deutschlandfunk that, in the event of a 'No' result, Greece would "have to introduce some other currency because the euro is not available as a means of payment."
"And how do they plan to pay salaries? How do they plan to pay pensions?"
"Only at the moment where somebody introduces a new currency does he exit the eurozone," Schulz added.
"And those are elements which lead me to hope that the people today won't vote 'No'."
Separately he told a German newspaper that Europe would not "desert" the people of Greece regardless of the outcome of the referendum and may provide it emergency loans.
He said in an interview with Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper that the Athens government had maneuvered the heavily-indebted country "into a dead end".
"Perhaps we will have to give emergency bridging loans to Greece so that public service can be maintained and needy people get the money they need to survive," he said.
"For that, money would be available short term in Brussels," he added.
But he warned this would not be a lasting solution.
Millions of Greeks voted Sunday in a crucial referendum that could decide the country's fate in the eurozone, with two TV polls suggesting a 'No' result might prevail.
Source: Agence France Presse
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