First take: Greeks tell EU, 'No means no'
WASHINGTON — Greek voters handed Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras a decisive vote of confidence Sunday. With nearly all the votes counted, 61% responded to his appeal to vote "no" in a referendum on whether to accept bailout terms that required more austerity in the beleaguered country without any promise of debt relief.
By voting "no" in a referendum called with little more than a week's notice, Greek voters affirmed their choice last January in parliamentary elections that brought Tsipras' Syriza party to power on a dual pledge to stick with the euro but reject further austerity policies after five years of deflation and recession.
As they did in January, voters ignored threats by European Union officials that they were choosing whether to stay in the 19-nation eurozone and backed Tsipras in his effort to get a better bailout deal that would set the country on a sustainable path to restore growth.
The "no" vote puts the ball back in the court of EU officials, particularly German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who must find a way to provide Greece with aid to avoid a full-fledged default or to pull the plug and effectively eject Greece from the euro.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has hinted that secret negotiations have continued and that the government and the EU are close to a deal.
The past five months of talks have produced a cacophony of contradictory statements, as negotiations became bitter and personal, so it's hard to know how much credence to lend to Varoufakis' claims.
A belated acknowledgment by the International Monetary Fund last week that Greece's debt is unsustainable and will need to be restructured could help pave the way for some concessions on the EU side to reach a quick agreement. There were reports of a late-night cabinet meeting in Athens to confer on the next step.
The unexpected decisiveness of the vote to reject creditor terms will create a good deal of uncertainty for financial markets. Officials at the EU and the European Central Bank will be on the spot to say something to reassure markets before they open on Monday.
If Tsipras has calculated correctly that the EU was bluffing with its threats to force Greece out of the euro, he will emerge from the referendum with a good deal of leverage to strike a deal that eases the burden on the Greek public even as the country implements reforms that can restore growth.
If he was wrong and creditors continue to take a hard line, financial markets are in for a rocky ride.
USA TODAY columnist Darrell Delamaide has reported on business and economics from New York, Paris, Berlin and Washington for news outlets that include