ATHENS, July 1. /TASS/. The Greek government will stay at the negotiating table with the creditors until the end, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Wednesday in a televised address to the nation.
"In any case, the Greek government remains at the negotiating table and will stay there until the end, and will also be there on Monday immediately after the referendum, with better conditions for the Greek side," Tsipras said. "Because the people’s mandate is always stronger than the desire of any government."
"I would like to repeat: the democratic choice is in the center of European traditions. At very important moments of European history, peoples with the help of referendums made critical decisions," the premier added.
However, in the opinion of Tsipras, other criterions have been used regarding Greece. "I personally never expected democratic Europe not to realize the necessity to give time and an opportunity to the people to sovereignly choose its future," he said. "Domination of radical conservative forces has led to the decision to bring Greek banks to suffocation."
According to the prime minister, an ultimatum was sent to the Greek government on implementation of the memorandum (on austerity measures in exchange for loans), and the cabinet is "fighting to retain wages and pensions at a decent level."
Tsipras said "voting against [proposals of creditors] at the upcoming referendum does not mean breaking with Europe but returning to European values." "‘No’ means strong pressure in favor of a socially just agreement," the head of government underscored.
The Greek government on Wednesday sent a new proposal to the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB). In the proposal, Athens expresses 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 is to take place, at which the population will be asked to speak "for" or "against" proposals of the EC, the IMF and the ECB on the settlement of the Greek debt problem.
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