Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras remained steadfast Wednesday in his plan to hold a referendum on creditors' bailout demands, while eurozone finance ministers decided not to consider any aid requests until after the controversial poll, according to dpa. Frantic negotiations have been under way ahead of Sunday's planned vote, with some analysts predicting that a rejection of the creditors' reform package could propel the country out of the eurozone. But Tsipras said during a televised address to the nation that anyone equating a no-vote with a return to the drachma is "telling lies," and repeated his call for people to vote against the measures. "'No' does not mean rupture with Europe," but rather a return to European values, Tsipras said. The premier said that Greece is now prepared to accept most reform demands, with some "amendments, additions or clarifications," coupled with a bailout extension and a third rescue programme, in a letter sent to creditors late Tuesday. The changes sought by Tsipras include retaining a value-added tax rebate for Greek islands, delaying some pension reforms until October and maintaining a solidarity grant for the poorest of pensioners for longer than proposed by the creditors. But eurozone finance ministers decided on Wednesday not to hold any new talks on Greece until after Sunday's poll, while also putting on hold any negotiations between Athens and its creditors. "We see no grounds for further talks at this point," said Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem, following a conference call among his group of finance ministers. "The political situation has not changed," he added. "Europe wants to help Greece," EU President Donald Tusk wrote earlier on Twitter, adding that it "cannot help anyone against their own will." The finance ministers had already rejected a request for an extension of the European part of Greece's bailout, which expired Tuesday - as the country went into arrears on a debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund, cutting off all access to bailout aid. On Wednesday, the ministers "simply took note" of Tsipras' third request, for a new two-year 29.1-billion-euro (32.2-billion-euro) loan from the eurozone's bailout fund, Dijsselbloem said. But sources said on condition of anonymity that Greece's creditors - the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF - did not think Tsipras' latest offer went far enough, adding that his televised address had not been helpful. There are questions about what terms Greece's creditors would set under a new bailout. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said earlier Wednesday that any new rescue programme would be based on a fresh set of conditions. "We are in a completely different situation," he said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told parliament in Berlin that there "cannot be a compromise at any cost." But fears are rife that Greece is about to go bankrupt. The country faces further debt repayments, notably on July 20, when Greek bonds held by the ECB and eurozone national central banks totalling 3.5 billion euros mature. Merkel later said she was prepared to speak to Tsipras at "any time," during a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who called the referendum a "mistake." French President Francois Hollande called for a swift agreement to prevent a so-called Grexit. "I am not for peremptory statements or brutal ruptures. I believe we must always search for agreement, negotiation, reason," he told journalists in the French city of Lyon. In Greece, 46 per cent of Greeks said they would vote 'no' in Sunday's referendum - less than in earlier polls - while 37 per cent would vote 'yes,' in a survey by ProRata for Greece's Efimerida ton syntakton newspaper. But the Council of Europe, a pan-European democracy watchdog, told dpa that the referendum would not meet international standards, as there was not enough time to prepare and the question was too vague. Earlier this week, Greece introduced capital controls and capped cash withdrawals, in an effort to stem an outflow of money from the country. Long queues formed in front of several banks on Wednesday as they opened their doors to pensioners and other people without debit or credit cards. They will be limited to withdrawals of 120 euros for the three-day span until Friday. Tsipras stressed that people would not lose their pensions, salaries or money in the banks. "This situation will not last long," he added.
