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In a televised address after the extraordinary meeting of the council of ministers, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a referendum on 5 July. Having laid the blame on the creditors, and the IMF in particular, for their perseverance in terms of stringent budget cuts, he urged Greeks to give their vote for or against the signing of the agreement.

Alexis Tsipras said he had already advised the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, the French President, Francois Hollande, and the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, of his decision.

The Greek prime minister added that he would ask creditors for a several days’ extension of the bailout programme. Tsipras also said he would accept the referendum results whatever they might be.

The first response from Brussels arrived minutes after the end of his address. According to sources, the meeting of the Eurozone finance ministers will be held on Saturday, at 15:00 Greek time, as scheduled. Meanwhile an extraordinary parliament session will be held in Athens. A teleconference meeting of the European Central Bank is scheduled for Sunday morning.

It is worth noting that straight after the meeting, the cabinet ministers established the pitch of their communication campaign in favour of rejecting the agreement. Yet none of them bothered to explicitly state whether the real question now is if Greeks are for or against staying in the Eurozone.