(Image Source: Wikimedia / Vasilis Filis)

BY EMOKE BEBIAK

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

The Greek debt saga took an unexpected turn when the country’s prime minister called a popular referendum on bailout measures Monday. Euronews has the story...

“The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has called a referendum on a new EU aid package to ask voters whether they want it or not. A ‘no’ vote could throw the question of the country's solvency up in the air again, raising more serious questions for the euro zone.”

The surprising announcement comes only a couple says after Brussels agreed on a new measure to reduce Greece’s debt. But Greek citizens will now have a chance to decide whether they want to follow those measures or not.

An analyst for CNN lists the issues that are not up to the citizens...

“They will decide whether or not they will have the austerity package, and the bailout package, whether they will stay within the Euro zone or actually decide to come out. So, a very big political decision from the Greek prime minister.”

According to Al Jazeera, the Prime Minister called the referendum “the highest form of democracy,” saying it gives people the final vote. But the New York Times writes the move seems more of a PR stunt aiming to solidify the political situation saying...

“Mr. Papandreou’s call for a referendum was a last resort, meant to gain broader political support for the unpopular austerity measures in the deal without forcing early elections that would only worsen the country’s political and economic turmoil.”

A blogger for the Telegraph writes the idea of Greek citizens deciding their fate is somewhat understandable pointing out...

“[A]t least the Greeks are stripping away the self-serving claims of the creditor states that their ‘rescue’ loan packages are to ‘save Greece.’ They are nothing of the sort. Greece has been subjected to the greatest fiscal squeeze ever attempted in a modern industrial state, without any offsetting monetary stimulus or devaluation.”

So what happens if the Greeks turn down the EU’s bailout package? A writer for The Financial Post flashes out the “doomsday scenarios.” An analyst tells the paper a “no” from Greece will mean defaulting on its bonds and...

“If this happens, the deficits of other governments will blow through the roof, leading to cascading bank failures becoming a near-certainty and triggering a financial market crash that will send the eurozone into a deep depression.”

The vote is expected to take place in December or January, meaning financial markets will have to tackle the uncertainty until then. Markets already felt the effect of the announcement, the Dow Jones was down 2.2 percent right after the opening bell.