REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
Greek Prime minister Alexis Tsipras reacts before a swearing in ceremony for Greece's new lawmakers in the Greek parliament in Athens February 5, 2015.
The country's bailout program is set to end on Tuesday, but the referendum is not until Sunday.
Bloomberg reports that Tsipras said the Greeks will survive even without a bailout program, and that Greece won't abandon democracy because it's bailout program ends. The government will go with whatever the Greek people decide at the ballot box.
Tsipras also said that Greece's banks were closed for the week because the bailout program is ending. Greece's creditors gave the government an ultimatum, and don't want a referendum, he said.
He maintained his line that Greece has done everything in its power to reach a compromise with its creditors, but the creditors did not give the Greeks any solutions.
However, Bloomberg is reporting that Tsipras maintained that Greece will keep the euro currency because of the high cost of what has become popularly know as Grexit. He said that the country's creditors don't plan to throw Greece out of the euro.
While Tsipras was speaking, his official Twitter account was also tweeting:
The Greek people have a right to decide on their future. @ErtSocial #ert #Greece #Greferendum
- Alexis Tsipras (@tsipras_eu) June 29, 2015
This post continues to be updated.