ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s prime minister says he never would have put the question of whether Greece stays in the joint euro currency to a referendum.
Prime Minister George Papandreou told his Socialist party lawmakers that a referendum would have focused on a new European debt deal reached last week. He said a rejection of the Oct. 27 bailout deal would have meant a Greek exit from the euro.
His announcement Monday that he intended to put the bailout to a public vote sparked a continentwide crisis and left his government on the verge of collapse as his own deputies and ministers rebelled.
The idea horrified other EU nations and Greece’s creditors, triggering turmoil in financial markets.
