International

'The Greek people have made use of their democratic right en masse and voted ‘no’ to the troika’s harsh and counter-productive austerity policies.  The Greek economy, after five years of cuts, is in a worse state than it was. Greece needs investments in order to get the economy going again and find a social route out of the crisis.  The Greeks’  no vote is a clear signal that the European creditors can’t simply push to one side.’ So says SP leader Emile Roemer in reaction to the result of the Greek referendum, announced Sunday evening.

'The Dutch government had already indicated that it was unwilling to hold further talks with the Greek government in the event of a no vote’ Roemer adds. ‘To hold to that would be extremely foolish. The European creditors can do nothing except take this result seriously, and they’ve signalled their preparedness to work with the Greek government on a social and sustainable agreement.’

In the wake of the result of the Greek referendum, SP Member of Parliament and finance spokesman Arnold Merkies will as quickly as possible recall the parliamentary Finance Committee from its summer recess in order to hold a debate with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem and hear what consequences the referendum result will have for the Netherlands’ policies in relation to Greece.