Greece abandons referendum on austerity plan.

247 – It was up to the Greek Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, to announce that the referendum that would have submitted the decision on Greece's financial bailout to the country's population will no longer be held. The information that the Greek government would submit the plan to citizens had been given last Monday by the country's Prime Minister, George Papandreou.

Just hours before Venizelos' announcement, Papandreou still insisted that, even at the risk of the popular decision pushing Greece out of the eurozone, it was important to consult the population about the austerity measures imposed by international financial institutions in exchange for the financial aid that Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy.

"We cannot have decisions made by the markets and not by the people," the prime minister argued earlier. "We want to see if, as a country, we are willing to implement the necessary changes that are actually beneficial," he added. But the pressure was strong, and the Greek government changed its mind.

Papandreou himself confirmed the change hours later. "We are not even going to a referendum, which was never an end in itself, and I welcome the position of the conservative opposition, which is willing to ratify the Brussels summit agreement in Parliament," the prime minister said in a statement.

Read the article about the crisis that could bring down the Greek prime minister:

Greece's state television broadcaster reported that Prime Minister George Papandreou insisted today that he will not resign. He is facing growing unrest within his own party over the referendum he intends to hold to ask the people whether the country should accept a second international bailout package.

Papandreou reportedly said he will not resign during an emergency cabinet meeting this morning, ahead of a confidence vote in Parliament scheduled for tomorrow.

Meeting yesterday in Cannes, France, before the start of the G-20 meeting (group of the 20 largest economies in the world), European leaders showed that they have reached the limit of their patience with Greece and asked the country to decide whether or not it wants to remain in the eurozone. They also made it clear that the next tranche of aid to the country, of 8 billion euros, will only be released after the Greek government ratifies last week's agreement. This information comes from Dow Jones.

Below is a news item recently released by Agência Estado: 

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou plans to submit his resignation today, following calls from members of his party for him to step down and allow the formation of a unity government, according to the Greek newspaper To Vima.

According to the newspaper, which cited unidentified sources, Papandreou will visit the Greek president to ask other parties to agree to form a national salvation government. Earlier, several parliamentarians from the ruling Socialist Party (Pasok) indicated that they will not support the prime minister in the confidence vote scheduled for this Friday.

Papandreou is facing a revolt within his party after surprising lawmakers with the announcement of a referendum on the €130 billion bailout package offered to the country last week.

Meeting yesterday in Cannes, France, before the start of the G-20 meeting (group of the 20 largest economies in the world), European leaders showed that they have reached the limit of their patience with Greece and asked the country to decide whether or not it wants to remain in the eurozone. They also made it clear that the next tranche of aid to the country, of 8 billion euros, will only be released after the Greek government ratifies last week's agreement. This information comes from Dow Jones.