ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece will continue paying its debts, after its ruling Radical Left Coalition narrowly rejected a call by party hardliners to miss its next International Monetary Fund loan payment.
Syriza’s central committee rejected the proposal Sunday by far left hardliners 95-75, with one blank vote. It also rejected calls to nationalize banks and hold a referendum that would give voters the power to reject any deal in Brussels with the EU and IMF over relief in exchange for more fiscal reforms.
This was just the latest push in Greece to miss an IMF payment. Last week, Nikos Filis, the leader of the party’s parliamentary group, said Greece’s cash crunch is so tight that it might not be able to make a June 5 payment of 300 million euros ($330 million).
Greece owes a total of 1.56 billion euros ($1.72 billion) in June. It has not received bailout aid since August and the European Central Bank has provided less help lately to Greek banks.
Party hardliners known as the Left Platform invoke non-payment as a matter of principle. Most Syriza officials, however, use the threat as a means to pressure lenders to provide immediate relief.