Merkel 'suggests Greek referendum on euro membership'

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

18 May 2012 Last updated at 17:41 GMT

Merkel 'suggests Greek referendum on euro membership'

German leader Angela Merkel has suggested that Greece could hold a referendum on continued use of the euro when it votes in national elections next month, Greek officials say.

A Greek government spokesman said Chancellor Merkel had come up with the proposal during a phone call with the Greek president on Friday.

The news broke as US and French leaders held talks in Washington focusing on the economy.

The meeting came ahead of a G8 summit.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18121414

[KamaAina]

1. Mmmmmkay, Angela

but what if it passes (as it presumably would) and Syriza forms an anti-bailout government (as it may very well do)?

[dkf]

3. Then they want to eat their cake and have it too.

[KamaAina]

4. Not necessarily. A pro-euro Syriza voter would be sending this message:

"Yes, we want to stay in the eurozone. Just not on the German banksters' drop-dead terms."

[dkf]

5. How can anti-bailout be pro-Euro?

No bailout means they don't have the capability to fulfill the obligations of being in the Euro.

[Eugene]

2. Greece's conservatives reject Merkel referendum idea

Source: Reuters

Greece's conservatives reject Merkel referendum idea

ATHENS | Fri May 18, 2012 2:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - Greece's conservatives, the country's biggest party which backs its international bailout, rejected on Friday a suggestion by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Greece hold a referendum on its euro zone membership.

"The Greek people don't need a referendum to prove they're pro-euro," said Antonis Samaras, the leader of the conservative New Democracy party, in a statement.

Greece's government spokesman said earlier on Friday that Merkel raised the referendum idea in a telephone conversation with Greece's President Karolos Papoulias.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/18/us-greece-conservative-idUSBRE84H0V920120518