German-French Ultimatum To Greece

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is "summoned" to Cannes by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who demand that Greece make a snap decision whether it wants to stay in the Euro Zone or not.

He was told Greece won't receive more aid until after the January referendum on the latest economic squeeze ("austerity program") so creditors could see if the Greeks would accept the deal.

 "Europe cannot be kept waiting for weeks for the outcome of the referendum" sniffed French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to parliament. "The Greeks must say quickly and without ambiguity whether they choose to keep their place in the euro zone or not."


And Merkel made it clear that the dominant European powers were out of patience and wanted to bring matters to a head one way or the other. "We agreed a plan for Greece last week. We want to put this plan into practice, but for this we need clarity and the meeting tonight should help with precisely this," she said.