Greeks may be asked to vote on bailout deal: Tsipras

Athens

PRIME Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greek voters could be asked to decide on whether to approve an agreement with creditors that may not be in line with his campaign pledge to end austerity.

In a late-night interview on Star TV on Monday, Mr Tsipras said his mandate is to negotiate an accord with euro-area member states and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "that won't repeat the vicious circle of austerity, misery and pillage; a solution with prospects and within the European framework". If the deal "exceeds that mandate", then "Greek people will have to decide, obviously not through elections", he said when asked about the possibility of a snap poll or a referendum.

The 40-year-old leader of Greece's anti-austerity coalition said he's confident things won't reach that point, pointing out that Greece's place in the euro area is a "deeply existential issue for Europe, with geopolitical implications". His comments come after months of talks made little progress in breaking the deadlock between Greece and its institutional creditors, raising the spectre of a debt default and the country's possible exi…