we have our correspondents covering the story, jacky rowland is in brussels and john psaropoulos is in brussels. we know what is going n, john trying to get talks going. let's look at what is on offer, essentially angela merkel says you'll be looked after by brussels or you'll have to step out of the e.u. for a time. what do you greeks think about this? >> owe initially the 5 year time out is being denied. it's beping aired, discussed out of the bag. there's no denying the fact that someone thinking along the lines, even if it isn't germany. i think the greeks worried about such a prospect. they are concerned that the greek public governance nout just understand syriza but previous governments and the quality of political staff boning what it is they have little faith that once greece has taken one step out of the eurozone it's not going to take the other foot. greeks are concerned that the eurozone, and the european union needs to be there, involvement, for the government to stay the straight and narrow course of reform and modernization. this plan is being viewed with anything betwee

let's get the view from athens with john psaropoulos, who is standing by for us. as we saw, sunday was said to be the deadline and some ideas of proposals must be submitted by thursday. any developments on that from greece. >> that is a good question. we know the government predicted that it would collect close to $3.5 billion from tax evasion before it was elected. that has not materialized. we do know that a bill has been prepared in the finance ministry we have seen it clamping down on corporate transactions between greece and overseas subsidiaries serving as a form of tax evasion and it would champ down on fuel smuggling estimated to cost the government a billion. had has not come to parliament. nor has it been posted for public consultation. we don't know how serious they are, that alexis tsipras talks about quite often and mentions in the european parliament. he seems to be extending your hand and asking for help. he doesn't seem to do anything on the ground. from any assistance from overseas. he doesn't reign in the economy. he spoke of a collusion between

the latest from john psaropoulos, live from athens, what are the details? what is alexis tsipras offering the europeans? >> he is offering to cut roughly 700 million worth of spending pon pensions this year and about 2 billion next year. that is in the latest plan submitted by creditors, and it came close to what the greeks submitted earlier. he issa greeing to that and to raise the v.a. f to raise more of to this year. he's going to raise $2 billion more about v.a. t than previously foreseen next year. these are austerity measures measures that take money out of the economy and put it in state coffers. the government will ask for the delay of certain measures such as a review of spending and labour laws and it's agreeing to the reviews and reforms. it's a question of a few months putting them back a little. >> it's also trying to sweeten the pill. the fact that it's capitulated to this neegsgotiation to the creditor's demand. asking for a 2-year moratorium. it is a fund that would help governments pick up debt payments for the next 24 months and asking for

. >> let's go to athens now and speak to john psaropoulos. any sort of talks going on behind the scenes or is it really the referendum on sunday the next thing we all have to wait for? >> that really does now seem to be the thing that everyone is waiting for. earlier today the greek prime minister alexis tsipras said that it is a no vote does not mean no to europe. it does not mean no to the euro. what it means he says, is no to an unjust solution. it means that it will help put pressure on creditors to reach a solution that does not burden salaried employees and pensioners. but earlier this even after another eurozone meeting the second in two days, the chairman of that group said that we are not prepared to open up renewed talks for the greek government. he said give the rejection of the standing offer on saturday by the greek authorities and the fact that they have advised people to vote against the latest package of austerity measures we see no grounds for discussion at this point. we shall simply await the results of the referendum on su

let's go to athens where john psaropoulos joins us from there. i believe you have a guest you'd like to speak to. i got to hand it over to you. >> yes, we are expecting there may be a government reshuffle, and hear to talk about that and other things is the former finance minister. you ran the economy up until january. do you thick that this government is now having negotiated an austerity for gas deal capable of implementing what it voted through parliament. >> let me say, first of all, that when i left the government i delivered to them an economy that was growing at .8." they did a direct investment. it was a peak. everyone was bullish and everyone expecting that growth this year would be 2.5 to 3%. and it only took five months for an inexperienced government and undecisive government to destroy all that. we are in a corner and it was all our own doing, our government's doing. >> you are telling me indirectly that you are skeptical about whether they can pull off the package. >> i am happy that in the last minute they finally wised up and deci

john psaropoulos has more from athens. >> the greek people are about to explode with frustration. there are people unemployed on the square people graduating from universities about to be unemployed. all are against austerity. they say yes to the referendum on sunday because they want to go against the government. they want the government out. they think they have been a disaster, that they have botched the negotiations and this has been done with an agenda in mind to take people out of the eurozone. people are fighting on the streets about who is to blame. if you go into shops, people argue about who owns more money, why they are earning it. some are calling other people fascists or communists. there's a lot of anger spilling out into the open area on the streets. that is also been vented at these gatherings on the square behind me sometimes in favour of the referendum, in favour of the yes vote yes to the austerity package and the euros, and ma means, and against. and what that means is we want to punish our creditors and want greece not to repay its debt but to take care of its

john psaropoulos is there. what will the people in greece have made of what alexis tsipras is saying? >> well look we have had a lot of ups and downs. we had the greek government declare the referendum. there has been a no to further austerity. now we have gone back to talks. what will they be based on. alexis tsipras went without specific proposals we are told yesterday, but there'll be specific proposals on thursday. today there is another euro group teleconference to discuss what the status is or the progress is. there has been a roadmap that has been discussed by alexis tsipras and the leaders of the eurozone. i wonder what will be thought of between tuesday and thought of. i think the basis of the proposals has got to be the previous plan. there's precious little in the speech, to suggest that he is about to burst forth with a slew of ideas, that crossed the lines held up until now, by either side. for example, is he proposing to cut any of the state expenses that he wants them to cut. 55%. budget. the two

john psaropoulos reports the outcome of the vote is anyone's guess. >> reporter: the yes vote has grown, relative to the know vote which appears to hold the majority. the trend may be change. it's difficult who will have the upper hand come sunday. the yes vote is feeding off the insecurity of grease feeding off the us open tied to warnings and -- eurozone tide to warnings and threats, saying if greeks vote no they'll no longer have a place in the us open. the no vote -- in the eurozone, the know vote has strength people believing they have no choice but to tell creditors they are no longer willing to talk about austerity, believing they will not bring a decent package, and seem to be strengthened by a debt sustainability by the international monetary fund, one of greece's biggest creditor and that says unless greece receives an additional loan of about 52 billion euro for the next three years, it will have an unsustainable debt in the years to come. the i.m.f. recommends to europe extend the repayment period for all loans from 16 years to 40. it says unless europe does that even with t

john psaropoulos there in athens. thank you >>> tunisia is under a state of emergency, the president made the announcement a week after 38 tourists were killed in a beach resort. the measure necessary to maintain security. the move gives military and police extra powers as peter sharp reports. >> announcing the emergency measures to the nation the president's tunisia is in a state of law. >> islamic state carries the black flag and wants to establish a kali state. -- caliphate. there's no country in our region or europe that is immune from terrorism. >> a declaration of a state of emergency announced by the tunisian president comes more than a week after a beach massacre. 38 students died. 30 holiday makers. the new legislation will give the government more flexibility. at the same time will hand the army and police more authority. it restricts the right of hub bike assembly. -- public assembly. >> it's brought into force as tunisian security forces tracks down others involved in organising and coordinating the attack

john psaropoulos reporting from athens. >>> in portugal there were rallies in solidarity with greeks against austerity measures. hundreds took to the streets of lis bon carrying vote no. portugal, like greece had to ask for an international bailout to avoid bankruptcy and had to implement massive spending cuts. >> translation: i'm here to show solidarity with the greeks for having the courage that we didn't have. well, i don't hope any more maybe we'll never have it. i feel it's important to have courage. if it's not recognised at an international level, it will never have the strength to make us win >>> the leader of bosnia serbs called the srebrenica a lie. he said the killing of male muslims at screb ren eacha was not genocide. around 8,000 men and boys were murdered after bosnia stormed the area >>> tunisia is under a stij. the -- state of emergency. the declaration was made after 38 tourists were shot dead in the resort. another similar attack could lead to the collapse of the country warns the president. peter sharp reports. >> announcing the emergency measures to the nation, t

john psaropoulos is in athens with the latest. >> reporter: the greek people are about to explode with frustration. there are people that are unemployed on the square people graduating from universities about to be unemployed all of them against austerity, they say yes to the referendum on sunday. they want the government out. they think they have been a disaster. they think they have botched the association, and think it's been done with an agenda in mine to take people out of the us open. -- of the eurozone. people on the streets are arguing about who owns more money. some are calling others fascists, communist. there's a lot of anger spilling out. that has been vented at these gatherings in the square behind me. sometimes in favour of the referendum in favour of the yes vote. yes to the package and euro and sometimes against, and what that means is we want to punish our creditors, we want greece not to repay its debt but to take care of itself. >>> john psaropoulos reporting from athens. >>> the president of merc investments and a global investment analyst joins us. good to have you

let's go live to john psaropoulos, joining us from the capital athens. we know that the capital controls, and the bank holidays have been extended. what does this mean for the ordinary growing? >> this means that the problems that we have seen are now increasing. and are more intense. i was talking earlier to the head of the athens chamber of commerce who said that meat and flour in particular are now sold by importers on a rationed basis to wholesalers in the greek market. you can no longer buy as much beef or port imported and particularly wheat flour. as you want these have to be carefully dished out. i was talking earlier to the pharmaceutical wholesaler's association. they have sent a letter that three multinational drug makers are cutting horizontally they say, across the board, also medicines that the wholesalers are putting to them. even though wholesalers say to this up front. they are saying that multinational drug makers are no longer selling a market the medicines that it needs, and anecdotal evidence is that some medicines are beginning to r

live to our correspondent, john psaropoulos in athens. we have been looking at the queues outside the atm. what is the state as greeks go to the polls on this usual referendum. what is the stake, and how much capital do the banks have? >> the banks, selfen si is not great at the moment. we believe they have about 120 million euro's worth of government this them blow the 160 billion in them before elections were declared last december. people have been pulling money out for months not just the last several beaks are weeks. the trouble with this is the following, if the greek government's announcement of default proceeds. if it becomes officials because it didn't pay the international monetary fund loans last tuesday, they will no lodger be able to claim liquidity. once the bonds are declared to be effectively the bonds of a defaulted country, they are worthless, and the e.c.b. is going to have to permanently cut off liquidity to the banks. at that point the banks will have to dip. >> governmentor's savings in -- depositor's savings to save

john psaropoulos is live in athens. hn greece's finance minister made an interesting announce about his own future this morning. tell us more. >> reporter: well he said that if there is a yes vote in sunday's referendum he may not be finance minister the next day, and i think it's underhere that the government may not be in power the next day either. because the government has staked it's a on the no vote. if it was a yes vote it would be seen as a public censure on the government policy and it will be seen that negotiations have gone the way. it is also playing in politics. the no vote of course wants syriza to remain in power. the no vote doesn't trust creditors to come up with any sort of decent deal for the greeks. they do trust the government they don't trust the people on the other side of the table. but the yes vote doesn't trust the government. so it's a question of who is mistrusted most that decides whether you go to the yes camp or the no camp. >> and what do we know about how public sentiment is actually shap

let's go to john psaropoulos who is standing by for us in athens. pras now willing to concede to some of the terms. tell us which ones he is wanting to change. >> reporter: he is conceding, really to his own plan. this was being finessed when tsipras walked out of those talks on saturday. his deputy issued somewhat of an explanation in the last few hours saying the creditors were shifting on their vat position. they were not going to stick to what was referred to during the week, and they were raising consumer taxes. but we are where we are. now four days later, mr. tsipras seems set to have let's say not an easy victory, if the no vote is still not what he really wants. since the referendum was announced the no vote has fallen to 46%, and the yes vote has risen a little to 37% according to the polls. the distance seems to be narrowing, and i think it is going to be too close to call. either way the government doesn't standing to gain i would say, because the no vote would keep the doors closed while a yes vote would be a public censure on its policy

. >>> al jazeera's john psaropoulos is live for us in the greek capitol, athens. those rival rallies just getting underway and i guess they are symbolic of the fact that greece as a country is divided over this issue. >> reporter: absolutely. the latest poll in fact give us again, an impossibly close number. the mega news channel poll gives us a 44.1% in favor of the yes vote and a 43.7 -- 43.7 for the no vote. like all of the other polls we have seen today, all of them giving both camps somewhere in the low 40s, and within the margin of error which is about 3%, all of these numbers are impossible to call. it's obviously a rally to the finish line for both camps. one thing that this poll does which other polls haven't done is it gives you an age analysis and the interesting thing here is that in all of the age groups from 18 to 59 the no vote is preponderant, but as you go up innage it weakens, until you get to the 60-plus age group, and there it is the yes vote that predominates. so you have analysis of the demographic that supports the yes vote. it is those peop

john psaropoulos with the latest from athens. >> the greek people are about to explode with frustration, there are people who are unemployed people graduating from universities who are about to be unemployed, all against austerity, they say yes to the referendum, they want to go against the government. they want this government out. they think they've been a disaster they have botched the negotiation, and that possibly all of this has been down with an agenda in mind to take greece out of the us open. people are fighting on the streets about who is to blame. if you go into shop people are arguing while they are shopping about who earns more money, why they are earning it. some call others fascist, communists, there's a lot of anger spilling out on to the streets. that is also been vented at these gatherings on the square behind me, sometimes in favour of the referendum, in favour of the yes vote, yes to the austerity package and the euros, and what that really means, and against. and what that means is we want to punish our creditors and want greece not to repay its debt, but to take ca

john psaropoulos in athens. >> greeks have been caught in a 2-pronged strategy.the end of tuesday they decided to capitulate, write to creditors and accept the deal on the table on saturday. the creditors said that deal is no longer available to them unless there's a referendum result giving a positive direction to the eurozone authorities in the sense that greeks want to remain within that eurozone. so by the end of wednesday, alexis tsipras, the greek prime minister, was forced to stick to his guns on the referendum, and continue to schedule it for next sunday, rather than cancel it, something that his deputy prime minister said 24 hours earlier was possible, and advise greeks to vote no. the irony, the contradiction is that on the one hand the greeks said they will accept the saturday deal from their creditors. on the other hand, they have asked voters to vote against it. >>> joining me from aspen colorado is niklas burns, a professor of diplomacy and international relations at harvard university. his long career in public service includes four years as the u.

john psaropoulos has been following events in athens. a bit of a rally going on behind you, john.l us what that is about. >> reporter: lauren this is the communist party labor union, this is their rally, their march. what they are doing is presenting themselves as the left-wing alternative to the left-wing government now in power. they have been doing this since the spring since tsipras has started talking about installing painful austerity measures. it's the communists who stepped in to present themselves as the alternative. they are only about 5.5% of the vote going back to last january's general election which may seem too small to make any difference. but when alexis tsipras took over in 2008 it was only 4.5% of the vote and it skyrocketed to 16% in just four years. this is what the communists are trying to do. >> john in the meantime there is a debate going on in parliament. bring us up to date with how that has been going. >> well, inside we have the debate going on on the document that greeks voted no to in last sunday's election but within a week here it is again, this tim

john psaropoulos is live in athens for us. what does this all mean for greece right now as they debate whether to take up the austerity package, particularly with the i.m.f. coming out saying it will not be part of a third bail out. >> you are right the i.m.f. will not be part of a bail out unless there's debt sustain ability. was was the case earlier when they were forced to ask private holders for a disoilent on the debt. at that time there was largely break pannings and pension funds that took the hit. most of the money disappointed was in the hands of greek institutions. it was a necessary move for greece to get its loan. 200, two-thirds of the debt is in the hands of european taxpayers through the governments and the european institutions that leaned the money for greece. now it's the turn of the official sector to de asked to turn down - to discount the debt that greece owes them. in fact the i.m.f. said that greece's debt can only be made sustainable through debt relief measures that go beyond what europe has been willi

we are crossing from john psaropoulos from athens. it's been difficult for greece and its creditors to find common ground. do we expect that to happen today? >> the difficulty has been underlined by the cancellation of what was to take place this evening. a full e.u. summit of 28 member states. that would have been the member governments, and that that is been cancelled by the president. and what we'll have instead, i suspect, will be a more drawn out summit of the eurozone heads of government. the 18 - sorry the 19 of the 28 countries, which is now expected to go on into the - later into the evening, perhaps overnight. that underscores the difficulty that we have been seeing in the last 24 hours. the euro group on saturday went on for eight or nine hours, it has not concluded its meeting. at this hour in brussels hopefully to prepare the ground for a document that the summit can go on to prove. there's hope for an agreement, various parties are saying but the problem that we hear from various comments by finance minister is one of tr

that's john psaropoulos speaking to us from athens.ll to come isil issues a threat against hamas in gaza. we'll be there live. >>> also empty airports and vacant hotels tunisia is set to lose millions of tourist dollars because of the massacre. >>> and we'll have the story of disappearing doctors in bangladesh's rural communities. stay with us. >> as greece plunges deeper into financial crisis. >> greece's choice, a bad deal... and no deal. >> world markets react. >> it's a grim picture. >> the consequences could be catastrophic. >> for continuing global coverage, stay with al jazeera america. ♪ >>> welcome back. the top stories here on al jazeera. the muslim brotherhood is calling for an all-out revolt against egypt's government. 13 brotherhood members were killed in a cairo apartment by security forces on wednesday. their families say they were unarmed. >>> european finance ministers have jekted talks on a new bailout for greece until after a national referendum on sunday. greeks will vote on whether to accept or reject a range of sp

as john psaropoulos reports from athens the greek government is stuck between a rock and a hard place. >> the government is in a difficult position. on the one hand its creditors shut the door on it. 24 hours after the government capitulated to the offer put on the table last saturday creditors have said all of that discussion is now off until the result of a sunday referendum. the implication being if the greeks vote in favour and with the encouragement of this government. they'll reconsider letting the greeks back into a financial assistance programme. but at home the situation remains equally difficult. banks are closed. liquidity is drying up. businesses are having difficulty supplying themselves and suppliers, consumption is falling as people make guarded use of their money, and the 60 euros a day. this government has therefore been trapped in the strategy that it designed to confront creditors, if you like to force their hand by means of a referendum. they have now had all diplomatic avenues blocked off among their creditors and in the eurozone and even in the european union, th

john psaropoulos has more from athens. >> reporter: i think there's a good chance that it will not because the agreement itself has changed, but because it is now accompanied in theory by a three-year funding program, rather than two years. that lives a longer period of stability and predictability. secondly, because it would be accompanied by a 35 billion euro development plan. that's the money the european commission promises to greece if it signs on the this pack cage. and thirdly, because the government says it will be accompanied by a reselling of greek debt which is the holy grail of this entire process. the greeks want the germans to agree to give them a 40-year period to repay their debt rather than the current 16 because that will spread out the payments each year and make the debt sustainable. right now greece isn't producing enough wealth to hand out as much money as it is being asked to for the repayment of creditors. if all of that package does transpire the way the greek government says it should then i think it's a much easier sell in the greek parliament. a haircut means no

john psaropoulos has more.ren't we have had dire warnings from creditors and other government leaders in europe saying that a no vote means greece ultimately has no place in the euro zone but it's clear that not everyone here is taking those warnings very seriously. about four-fifths of greeks are polling as wanting to say in the euro zone. about three-fifths of them are saying a no vote will seriously endanger that status. and yet two out of five are willing to vote no. so why is that the case? i think there's an indication in the fact that half of all greeks uphold a saying that even a no vote won't make any serious impact to soften their creditor's stance towards them. i think what this vote is really about for the no camp is preserving syriza in power, because they sense the creditors are trying to manipulate the greek political process, and to establish greek sovereignty and to tell other european powers who are greece's creditors, that they need to have more of a say in the bailout process, that they cann

. >> john psaropoulos with the latest there from athens.. >>> eight suspects are in custody following the attack in tunisia that killed 38 people. as the u.k. repatriated more than 30 victims, tunisia announced it detained seven men and one woman suspected to have direct links to the massacre on the beach last friday. isil has claimed responsibility for the attack carried out by the gunman who was shot dead by police. the investigation is allowing them to discover the network behind the operation, the government says. >>> tunisia says it is increasing security at tourist destinations. the country now standings to lose millions because of the attack. >> reporter: more policemen and soldiers are expected to patrol tunisia's beaches. their task is to prevent attacks on tourists, like the one that killed 38 people in the coastal city of suse. but hotel owners and travel agents are already seeing what could be the long-term impact of the attack. tourists have canceled their holiday plans, and those already in the country are cutting their stay s

. >> let's go life to athens john psaropoulos is there. why should greek m.p.s vote for a deal that event the i.m.f. thinks is toxic. >> hello. i think the main argument is what the prime minister said in his interview on tuesday night, that this is a deal that keeps greece in the eurozone. greece had no other option in order to remain. while the greek parliament was called onon friday to vote through what up until that point had been a package of measures that creditors were demanding, and they did so in the small hours of saturday. they'd been presented with a new memorandum, which is more difficult, unpalatable politically. it may be unenforceable practically as well. despite this 70% of greeks were polled by a national daily in the last 24 hours saying that they want parliament to pass the measures. falling out of the eurozone into an uncontrollable transition to the drachma - something that has not been planned for by this government, would be possibly a worse scenario for day to day life for doing business here. people seem to be bro

. >> john psaropoulos has more from athens. >> reporter: the greek side has submitted his letter to thentergovernmental distress fund that the greeks say they would like to fund their program for the next two years. greece has already graduated unsuccessfully from the previous program. that letter was meant to be submitted this morning. it is being done in collaboration with greece's creditors. it sets the process in motion of asking for an additional financial aid program and agreeing further down the road by sunday of the terms of it. it proposes to immediately implement a set of measures as early as the beginning of next week, which include a tax-reform-related measures, and pension-related measures. it sounds as though they will be agreeing to the package of austerity measures some puts in pension spending and some additional tax revenues that the greek government already agreed to on the 30th of june. this therefore, seems to be building on what was on the table, and it's also the document that was put to voters on sunday when they delivered the no vote. now the greek side says it

john psaropoulos has the latest from athens. >> reporter: the banking crisis may simply alter events on the ground, no matter how well or badly the discussion is going in brussels, the real economy is dying here. and the political uncertainty here has put a stop of any investment greek or overseas, and greeks are saying things can always got worse, and they have in the last weeks. banks have shut their doors. they have stopped financing businesses that had taken out loans. everything has come to a halt and the banks themselves are now in trouble. they are waiting for the healthier customers to pay in payroll, so they can take that cash and put it into atm's. the greeks have gone to brussels with a cross party mandate, which was negotiated here over a seven-hour conference yesterday and it empowers and encourages the prime minister to do four things. he is seeking an agreement, which of course finances his government through the next few years, at least two years. the imf thinks he needs $50 billion for that alone. secondly, he wants this program to be socially fair he doesn't want to

al jazeera's john psaropoulos is live for us now in the greek capitol athens.s the rival rallies begin to take place, the greek people seem as divided as ever. >> that's right. the vote is currently too close to call. three polls that we have seen today all put the yes and no in the low 40s with the difference between them within the margin of error. so no one really is going to be able to predict how this is going to go. this could be interpreted as an advance for the yes camp which before banks were closed was the majority view. but i think it's still too difficult to say. i think what we can say is that given that the result seems to be very very close one on sunday greece will probably be divided about this austerity package and austerity in general on monday. therefore, i don't know that mr. tsipras will be proven correct in his prediction that once this referendum is done the greek will all be united again. >> translator: whatever choice we make on sunday there will be nothing to divide us the following day. no one questions our presence in europe. no to

john psaropoulos has been following events in the greek capitol for us.oes the prime minister have political support for this range of measures? >> reporter: i don't think people are very surprised by what is on the table, or that it was the same document on the table two weeks ago. people have been even laughing about it today. i they think knew this was coming one way or the other. in fact about 50% of respondents of an opinion poll just two days before the referendum said they didn't think a no vote would make any difference towards their creditor's stance towards them. in that may be proven wrong over the courseover this weekend. it may well be while the document remains the same because what greece has to do hasn't essentially changed. may be will that creditors will become more lenient because they will add more sweeteners to these austerity measures partly because it will present another recession which was partly caused by the first two bailout loans. and the commission president has in fact today that if greece accepts this package, it would come

john psaropoulos is in athens. >> reporter: the prolonged greek banking crisis which has now been extendedmonday are now beginning to hurt the greek economy in visible and palpable ways. the athens chamber of commerce earlier today told us that particularly imported meat and grains like flour, are being now sold into the greek wholesale market on a rationed basis. you can no longer buy as great of supply as you want. secondly we're hearing that medicines are beginning to run out. certain types in particular. the greek wholesalers association, the people who buy from the multinational drug makers and sell onward into the greek market to pharmacies that association now is saying that three major multinational drug makers are refusing to sell them the quantity of medicines that they require. and this despite the fact that greek wholesalers pay in cash up front for all of their orders. so those drugs are beginning to slow down -- their supply is slowing down into the greek market. and we have heard from various people that some medicines really are becoming difficult to find. and we have heard

and john psaropoulos is in athens. john how are things in athens. is there optimism that the discussion can commence? >> well there's optimism regarding the fact that at least we are back to the negotiating table but in a sense we are back to where we were two weeks ago, when we decided to stop talks and hold a referendum. since then we've had a no vote, a ditching of finance minister who had become disliked at the eurozone table, and a yes sfrot the greek parliament on the greek measures that the greek people voted against. now the greeks have gone back to look. we know popular opinion in the country is against this. we'll take the responsibility route as the government and pursue these measures, what the greeks are asking for in a third contractual agreement with creditors is a completion of all the measures not done under the second bailout because talks ran through that deadline. the money that they are asking for, the 54 billion, is less than the money left over from the pre-approved 240 billion of the first two loans. not all was dispersed. ab

we vote yes to europe >>> we have our correspondent john psaropoulos in athens and hoda abdel-hamid in the second largest city. let's start with you, john greece divided by this referendum. tell us what is at stake here. >> well hello. greece is poised on a precipe because upon the outcome of this referendum we are led to understand that the health of banking system whether it will be funded by the european central bang or whether it dips into it in order to save itself, the health of the greek public sector whether it defaults or whether it continues to be in an financial assistance package, and the health of the greek private sector which labelled for so long. under high taxes and high unemployment. and with little help from the banking system. there's almost no financing for greeks any more. everything is at stake. the entire economy, everything that flows from that. whether the state workers will be paid and whether pensioners get the full pension. they are not sure. people have been stashing away money, and in the last week they have been trying to freeze all their tax payments in

let's go to john psaropoulos live for us in athens. all right. john lots of reforms there.initely signalling more austerity in the country, among them privatizing two ports. how will this affect the workers there? >> reporter: well the port shouldn't affect the workers. the port privatizations, in fact we have been told by people involved in the process is well underway. it has not stopped under syriza contrary to for example, the power corporation, and the regional airport, all of that is frozen. the ports are going ahead because the stage of advancement was great. and what we're expecting to see is not layoffs, rather a very large inrecessment package. when the conservatives fell from power, they were negotiating a package which would have involved they hoped, half a billion dollars worth of investment in the port alone, a smaller some in the other port. what we expect therefore, is whoever comes in to manage these ports is going to pour money into them because both of them come with container terminals. that's where the real money is. not the passenger ports, those are l

crossing to john psaropoulos. a day before the referendum the greek finance minister making comments, saying what they are doing, saying what they are doing is terrorism. how are the comments going down there. >> it's no surprise this is the language he's usingful he expects to be able to talk to the interlocuteurs. the important thing about what he said, apart from the red flags that he raised such as terrorism is that the government here has been receiving renewed variations of the offer that it received on 25 june. that is the offer that is on the table. to be decided on on sunday's vote. that is a dead letter. because greece's oversight programme ended on tuesday at midnight. many people said if that's the case the offer made four days earlier is no longer valid. they say it is because the government continued to receive variations upon it. therefore, he says it's a living document. and it is still a valid subject for this referendum. a no vote he says will allow us to go to brussels after the referendum on mo

coming up on the programme... ..i'm john psaropoulos in athens, where greeks today go to the polls ineferendum for the future of their country. >>> a state of emergency in tunisia, the county warning that it is not safe eight days after a gunmen killed 38 at a beach resort >>> cel

crossing over to john psaropoulos joining us from athens. is this a compromise john?prime minister putting anything new on the table here? >> reporter: well he's -- he himself has been very combative in the european parliament this morning, but his finance minister has written a more reassuring letter to creditors. he has sent the official application in to the european stability fund that's a distress fund which greece is now applying to for a new financial aid program. what they want is roughly 50 billion euros. it's not clear whether they will get all of that immediately. but the international monetary fund thinks that's the sum they need to get through the next two years, servicing their debts and their domestic needs. what the letter says is familiar. it says that greece is going to submit by thursday a comprehensive reform agenda which is going to be based on the ideas that have been discussed so far. and two things specifically are mentioned, which are now familiar with that this plan will immediately implement a set of measures as early as the beginning of nex

. >>> live now to john psaropoulos. we talked there about how the i.m.f. is potentially throwing a spanner in the works in all of this. is that affecting the debate at all in greece right now? >> yes, it is. the i.m.f.'s stipulation to creditors have been hashened to with -- harkened to with great attention here by voters and politicians. the preliminary debt sustainability analysis suggested that greece needed an extra 20 years grace before it repaid the principal on this enormous debt. now the i.m.f. is saying upon closer inspection it will need a grace period of 30 years, and the end of the century to finish paying off. that is information that will not, however, be incorporated in the bills gone to parliament today. greece's job today, the prime minister believes is to simply pass the bill with all of its flaws and haul that he thinks is wrong with it. this is what he said - i won't tell people that i'm bringing them a success story. the policy doesn't help us. we are doing what we can. the second choice was a disorderly quault and the third an exodus

the latest from john psaropoulos in athens. any hope that the last-minute proposal put forward by greece may be accepted by the finance minister? >> i think there is hope on the substance, because the exceptions to what the greek prime minister alexis tsipras is asking for is not great. it amounts to footnotery on essentially what is the creditor's fan. greyed tors had, when they -- creditors had, when they submitted the plan approached the greek measure. this was largely inspired what the greeks proposed last month. it is not unpalatable, but it contains spending cuts and is a red line that has been crossed now that alexis tsipras accepted it. he will agree to fewer - less money spent on pensions this year. i think this document gives the greeks hopes. particularly pensioners. some are allowed into the country. a lot of older people do not have atm cards. all of those people supermarkets queues at the cashiers going back into the market from the early morning hours, an unusual level of stocking up people going through days of

john psaropoulos has the latest from athens. >> the yes vote has grown in these days, compared to the no vote, which has been holding the majority in the last days. but it's difficult to say who will have the upper hand come sunday. at the moment, the yes vote is feeding off of the security of greece possibly leaving the euro zone, and that's got a lot of threats from leaders and creditors, saying that if greeks vote no, they will no longer have a place in the euro zone. but the no vote also has strength. people who believe that they have no choice but to tell creditors they are no longer willing to talk about austerity measures, that they're no longer to be trusted to deliver a decent package to save the greek economy. and they're being strengthened by a preliminary unanimous by the international monetary fund, which is one of greece's biggest creditors. unless they receive an additional loan of about 52 billion euros for the next three years, they will have an unsustainable debt in the years to come. the imf recommends that europe extend the payment from 60 years to 40. and it says