Nervous Greeks crowd ATMs awaiting ECB decision

ATHENS, Greece - Greece is anxiously awaiting a decision by the European Central Bank on whether to increase the emergency liquidity assistance banks can draw on from the country's central bank.

Worried Greeks on Sunday kept lining up at ATM machines after the prime minister called Saturday for a referendum on creditors' financial proposals in return for rescue loans. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' move has startled Greece's European partners and thrown the country's bailout negotiations with international lenders into turmoil.

If the ECB decides Sunday not to increase the emergency liquidity, which currently stands at just under 90 billion euros ($100 billion), Greece's banks will soon run out of cash and restrictions on transactions will likely be imposed.

The ECB has been slowly increasing the emergency credit to compensate for the increase in withdrawals from Greek banks.

Parliament approved Tsipras' referendum call early Sunday, with the national vote set for July 5.

The ECB has said it can only continue its current assistance if the banks are basically solvent. A failure by Greece's government to get more aid before its bailout ends Tuesday and a big payment to the International Monetary Fund is due could prompt the ECB to decide the Greek banks are not financially solid any more.

Capping the aid would quickly force Greek banks to limit withdrawals - but such controls could take Greece a step closer to leaving the 19-nation eurozone.

ECB President Mario Draghi has said it's up to elected officials to decide Greece's fate. Analysts say the central bank wants to give politicians every chance to negotiate a deal.

Two opinion polls indicate most Greeks want to keep using the shared euro currency and would prefer a deal with Greece's European partners rather than a rupture.

The polls published Sunday were both conducted before Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared early Saturday that he was calling a referendum on financial proposals made by Greece's creditors in return for continuing to fund the country with bailout loans. Still, they provide an indication of public sentiment.

In the poll by Alco for the Proto Thema Sunday paper, 57 percent said they believed Greece should make a deal with its EU partners while 29 percent wanted a rupture. A separate poll by Kapa Research for the To Vima newspaper found 47.2 percent of respondents would vote in favor of a new, painful agreement with Greece's creditors, compared to 33 percent who would vote no and 18.4 percent undecided.

Both nationwide polls were conducted from June 24-26. The Alco poll had a margin of error of 3.1 percent while Kapa Research's was 3.09 percent.