Greek PM gives up referendum plan

Watch Video

Play Video

Greeces embattled Prime Minister George Papandreou has scrapped plans to hold a referendum on the eurozone bailout deal. He also insisted he never would have put the question of whether Greece should stay in the joint euro currency to a popular vote, as the leaders of France and Germany had suggested.

He said, "When we started this great effort, we made a basic commitment towards the citizens, that their sacrifices would not be wasted. Their sacrifices have not been wasted. They were and are difficult, but they were worth it, sacrifices not only for today, but with deep routes, because they made a new strong base for the future of the country. We honored this commitment.

This debt cut that we achieved is a lot bigger than the sacrificesthat we had to make. So it is a clear vindication of the Greek citizensand parliament members and the government for all the difficulties we had with the votes, with our stamina, with the threats against us, and so on. It is a recognition of our policies and our efforts."

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou speaks during a parliament session in Athens,
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011. Papandreou abandoned his explosive plan to put a European
rescue deal to popular vote Thursday, keeping his government alive _ but passionate
squabbling in Athens left the country's solvency in doubt and the eurozone in turmoil.
Greek Prime Minister reversed course after a rebellion within his own Socialist party
over the referendum, but ignored repeated calls to resign and call elections.(AP
Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Papandreou said on Thursday that he has invited opposition conservatives to join talks on the bailout deal. His U-turn followed a high-pressure meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G20 summit in Cannes. Papandreou scrapped plans to hold a referendum on the October 27th bailout agreement, but rejected calls from the opposition and within his own party to call an election midway through his four-year-term.

Editor:Zhang Jingya |Source: CNTV.CN



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alibaba's Jack Ma expresses Yahoo interest

Image
Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, said he is very interested in buying all ofYahoo Inc. [File photo] Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of China's Alibaba Group, has said he is "very interested" in buying all of struggling Yahoo Inc. Alibaba spokesperson John Spelich confirmed that Ma made the remarks during his keynote speech at Stanford University in response to a question from a member of the audience. "Alibaba is very important to Yahoo, so is Yahoo to Alibaba," said Ma during a Q&A session. When he was asked which part of Yahoo he was interesting in, Ma responded, "the whole piece of Yahoo", Reuters reported. After Yahoo fired its CEO Carol Bartz, several U.S. media outlets singled out Ma as the outstanding candidate to succeed Bartz. Yahoo has reportedly also received inquiries from Microsoft, News Corporation and private equity firm Silver Lake Europe LLP. Alibaba faces a number of obstacles if it proceeds with its planned purchase of Yaho...
Keep reading

Shanghai port consolidates its position as world's busiest

Image
Shanghai, the world's busiest container port, will consolidate its title this year and leverage its record throughput to become a multi-faceted provider of port services. Containers lie at the Waigaoqiao port in Shanghai yesterday when the city witnessed 30 million TEUs cross its ports. [Shanghai Daily] The city, which overtook Singapore as the world's biggest container handler last year, saw its annual container traffic volume surpass 30 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) yesterday. The figure hits an unprecedented level in the world's port history and marks a new leg in Shanghai's voyage to become a global shipping center by 2020. China's remarkable trade boom is reflected in the Shanghai port numbers, which went from 7,951 TEUs in 1978 to 29.05 million TEUs in 2010. The city's customs oversaw a total of US$790 billion worth of imports and exports in the first three quarters of this year - a 19.3 percent year-on-year increase. And its port handled 23.9 mil...
Keep reading

Trade surplus falls as export reliance fades

CHINA'S traffic surplus fell by 6.4 percent in 2010 from a year earlier after supervision efforts to enlarge imports as well as revoke faith upon exports. The General Administration of Customs pronounced a surplus had been cut to US$183.1 billion. The proportion of surplus to total traffic worth declined to 6.2 percent in 2010 from 2009's 8.9 percent as well as 2008's 11.6 percent. Trade worth finished during US$2.97 trillion in 2010, a surge of 34.7 percent from a year earlier. Exports increasing 31.3 percent to US$1.58 trillion, whilst imports jumped to US$1.39 trillion, up 38.7 percent year-on-year. "While a lot of uncertainties still exist in a external world, China is correct to accelerate a gait of a economic restructuring as well as rely less upon exports," pronounced Xue Jun, an researcher during CITIC Securities Co. Both exports as well as imports shot to a jot down high final month. Exports in Dec increasing 17.9 percent upon an annual basis to US$154.1 ...
Keep reading