President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos chaired a political leaders council yesterday, in the wake of Sunday’s (July 5) referendum. The heads of all parties represented in parliament (barring Golden Dawn’s Nikos Michaloliakos) discussed for several hours the government’s plans for securing a deal with the institutions.

Following the meeting, all the leaders taking part - with the exception of the Communist Party’s (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoubas who disagreed with the document - signed a joint statement emphasizing they want Greece to remain in the Eurozone : "The recent verdict of the Greek people is not a mandate for rupture, but a mandate to continue and strengthen the effort to reach a socially fair and economically viable agreement," which also called for liquidity to be restored, an immediate priority.

The joint aim is to achieve a solution which will ensure, among others, the adequate coverage of the country’s funding needs; credible reforms for development with the least possible recessionary effects; a strong, front-loaded growth programme combating unemployment and encouraging entrepreneurship; and a commitment for a fundamental debate on dealing with the sustainability of Greece’s public debt.

Finally, the statement underlined that restoring liquidity to the Greek banking system, in cooperation with the ECB, is an immediate priority.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had telephone conversations yesterday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) Mario Draghi and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde.

Tsipras discussed bank liquidity with Draghi, stressing that there’s an immediate need to lift capital controls and provide emergency liquidity assistance (ELA). Speaking with Lagarde, Tsipras discussed the ongoing negotiations and the need to find a viable solution which deals with the real problems of the Greek economy.