ATHENS — In an unexpected move, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras went on national television early Saturday to call for a referendum on July 5 so that Greek citizens can decide whether to accept or reject the terms of a bailout deal proposed by the country's creditors.
With his speech, Mr. Tsipras upends the stalemate in negotiations between Greece and its creditors, throwing into doubt whether Greece will be able to make a 1.6 billion euro debt payment that is due on Tuesday to the International Monetary Fund, while also deepening concerns that the beleaguered country could leave the eurozone.
Mr. Tsipras said he was calling the referendum because Greece's creditors — the I.M.F., the European Central Bank and the eurozone countries — had refused to negotiate in good faith and present a fair compromise.
"After five months of tough negotiations, our partners ended up with a proposal in the form of an ultimatum," Mr. Tsipras said, arguing that the creditors were calling for "new, unbearable measures," including cuts to pensions, salaries and tax increases.
"The goal of some of Greece's partners is the humiliation of an entire nation," he added.
European finance ministers had been scheduled to meet for a final round of negotiations in Brussels on Saturday, but Mr. Tsipras said he would convene Greece's Parliament and ask lawmakers to vote on whether to hold the referendum, which would ask Greeks to decide whether they accept the creditors' proposal.
Mr. Tsipras said that he has relayed his decision to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President François Hollande of France, and Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank. He said he would send letters to Greece's creditors on Saturday asking that they allow the country's bailout program — scheduled to end on Tuesday — to be extended "for a few days" so that Greek voters can decide on the referendum.
"I call on you to decide in a sovereign and proud way," he told voters during his remarks. "We should respond to despotism and tough austerity with democracy, calmness and decisiveness."
Without an agreement or an extension, Greece will soon be forced to default on a series of debt payments that are due in coming weeks.
Friday was a day of tough negotiations in Brussels, with creditors and European leaders suggesting that Greece now had to decide. Ms. Merkel indicated that creditors had made their final offer to ease Greece's debt crisis, on terms she described as "extraordinarily generous."
Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, was less subtle, saying in a separate news conference, "No one country in a currency union can endlessly spend money at the cost of the others."
In response — and foreshadowing his later move on a referendum — Mr. Tsipras had fired back, saying he would not be forced into accepting bailout funding under what he considers unfair terms.
"The E.U.'s founding principles were democracy, solidarity, equality and mutual respect," Mr. Tsipras told reporters as he left the European Union leaders' summit in Brussels before returning to Athens. "Those principles," Mr. Tsipras said, were "not based on blackmail and ultimatums."
Those earlier comments, in hindsight, indicated the large gulf that remained between Greece and the creditors. After the announcement, Mr. Tsipras's office confirmed that he would send Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis and another top aide, Euclid Tsakalotos, to meet with Mr. Draghi on Saturday.
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Other Greek officials followed the prime minister's address by calling for people to vote no in any referendum. Giorgos Katrougalos, administrative reform minister, said holding a referendum could help Greece secure a better deal with creditors.
"For us to achieve an honorable agreement and for the country to stay in Europe, the decision of the Greek people must be one that delivers a resounding no to blackmail," he said.
Greece's energy minister, Panayiotis Lafanzins, leader of a far-left faction of the governing party, struck a similar tone.
"The decision of the Greek people will be a big no of the overwhelming majority," he said. "We will all vote no. All the Greek people will vote no. They will support a proud, national social effort."
Hanging in the balance is a remaining 7.2 billion euro, or $ 8 billion, tranche of loan money that Athens desperately needs.
Timeline: Greek Debt Crisis
Two of the sticking points have been how much Greece is willing to cut costs by revamping its national pension program, and how the country plans to revise its notoriously porous tax collection system.
In its latest offer, Greece conceded to lenders' demands for restaurants to be subject to the highest value-added tax rate — 23 percent — as long as hotels remain in the middle rate of 13 percent. But Greece insisted on keeping a 30 percent discount currently in place on all value-added tax rates in its Aegean Islands. Those taxes play a significant role in the tourism industry that is a big part of the Greek economy.
On the issue of pensions, Greece has agreed to phase out a special grant program for pensioners on low incomes by the end of 2018 — a year earlier than creditors have demanded. But Athens still objected to demands for cuts to pension payments.
As for another contentious issue — corporate taxes — the Greeks have suggested increasing it by two percentage points to 28 percent, instead of 29 percent as foreseen in their original proposal, which creditors rejected over fears that raising the business tax rate would impede economic growth.
By some measures, the differences in the proposals might seem incremental enough that compromises should be within reach. But at this point there may be more fundamental issues, like trust, that will need to be addressed.
One idea being floated by negotiators on Friday was to extend the current bailout program for five additional months, with €15.5 billion in funding. But rather than keep the current program in place, Greece would prefer eventually to reach a new arrangement altogether.
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