Row over Angela Merkel call for Greek euro referendum A German government spokesman denied that such comments were made to Greek president Karolos Papoulias. However, a Greek government spokesman contradicted this. "It is clear that the matter is beyond the competence of the caretaker government," the office of prime minister Panagiotis Pikramenos said. Mrs Merkel had previously rejected the idea of a referendum when it was proposed in October by George Papandreou, the former prime minister. The German leader's move came as Lucas Papademos, the former technocratic prime minister who succeeded Mr Papandreou, yesterday said a rejection of austerity measures and of the eurozone bail-out in the election would be a "catastrophe" for the country. Mr Papademos said a stand-off over the budget cuts and privatisation required by the €130bn (£104bn) bail-out would unavoidably cost Greece its place in the euro.