Greek PM defiant amid cash squeeze

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made a defiant speech as cash withdrawal limits begin to bite for Greek bank customers.

Mr Tsipras promised Greeks their pensions and wages would be safe.

Before his speech he put new proposals to eurozone partners, accepting most of what was on the table before talks collapsed, but with conditions.

But eurozone finance ministers later said there were “no grounds for further talks at this point”.

Dutch Finance Minster Jeroen Dijsselbloem replied to Mr Tsipras’s proposals, saying a new bailout could only be discussed “after and on the basis of the outcome of” a referendum Mr Tsipras has called for Sunday.

Greeks will be asked to accept or reject proposals made by creditors last week, with Mr Tsipras urging a “No” vote to strengthen Greece’s hand in negotiations.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told Greek TV that the government would aim to secure a deal with creditors on Monday, with capital controls being lifted soon after.

Athens was willing to accept “strict” conditions of a new bailout package, if in exchange the sustainability of Greece’s debt were guaranteed, Mr Varoufakis said, according to Reuters.

Mr Tsipras’s latest offer to creditors is tied explicitly to agreement on a request for a third bailout from the eurozone’s bailout fund lasting two years and amounting to €29.1bn.

In his address on Wednesday Mr Tsipras thanked Greeks for their “calm” in the face of bank closures and said their salaries and pensions would “not be lost”.

He angrily denied he had a secret plan to take Greece out of the euro, calling those who accused him of this “liars”.

Greek banks did not open this week after the ECB froze their liquidity lifeline, and on Wednesday decided to keep the emergency funding at the same level.

The ECB did not decide to demand more collateral from Greek banks as some had speculated it might.

Withdrawals from cash machines are capped at just €60 a day and long queues have been forming outside banks.

However, up to 1,000 branches re-opened on Wednesday to allow pensioners – many of whom do not use bank cards – a one-off weekly withdrawal of up to €120.

Many pensioners had waited outside banks from before dawn, only to be told to return on Thursday or Friday, AP reports. Some pensioners were told their pensions had not yet been deposited.

“It’s very bad,” said Popi Stavrakaki, 68. “I’m afraid it will be worse soon. I have no idea why this is happening.”

Close to 300 pensioners marched on the Bank of Greece in Athens after being given only a small sum from banks in the morning instead of the entire €120.

Athens missed the deadline for a €1.5bn (£1.1bn, $1.7bn) payment to the IMF on Tuesday.

Only three other countries are still in arrears to the IMF – Sudan, Somalia and Zimbabwe. Between them, they owe €1.6bn, only marginally more than Greece.

The European Commission – one of the “troika” of creditors along with the IMF and the ECB – wants Athens to raise taxes and cut welfare spending to meet its debt obligations.

Greece’s left-wing Syriza government, elected on an anti-austerity platform, has been in deadlock with its creditors for months over the terms of a third bailout. BBC