No one can keep up with Greece, as its position changes by the day. One minute it’s heading for the euro exit door, and the next it bangs hard with another plea to be let back into the negotiating room. The only predictable factor is that Greece will be unpredictable.

There is a growing feeling in Europe, however, that its prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and its unconventional finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, have overplayed their hand. When they made an effort to reopen negotiations yesterday after exasperating eurozone prime ministers and finance ministers for months, they were rebuffed.

“Hold Sunday’s referendum,” they were told, “and then we’ll talk.” This approach is hardly surprising after Greece missed Tuesday’s International Monetary Fund deadline to make its €1.6 billion loan repayment in return for new bailout funds being released.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was right to have said that the Greek decision to hold a vote after the June 30 deadline was “irresponsible” and the move could well backfire on Mr Tsipras – especially if he is on the losing end after telling his countrymen to reject the offer on the table.

In the meantime, his country is in the mire: Greek banks are closed until after the referendum, capital controls are in place and Greeks are only allowed to withdraw €60 a day from ATMs.

Greek voters should think carefully before they cast their vote. An exit from the eurozone would not help Europe – though the single currency has been remarkably resilient in the face of this crisis – but it would definitely hurt Greece’s economy more.

Greek people who are struggling to make ends meet do not deserve this and should be told the unadulterated truth by their prime minister of what a rejection of the bailout offer would mean.

In reality, it would be a messy affair with the European Central Bank probably pulling the plug on Greek banks, the Greek economy going into freefall and inflation shooting up. The possible contagion effect on other eurozone countries such as Spain and Italy – whose situation is nowhere as bad as Greece’s – cannot be ignored but seems much less likely than would have been the case two years ago.

A further complication is the fact that there exists no expulsion procedure for eurozone members in the EU’s treaties, and if Greece refuses to exit the single currency this will prove to be a legal headache for the bloc.

Another option, of course, is that Greek voters will vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum despite their left-wing government urging them to reject the bailout proposals.

This would show that the Greek people have understood the importance of Greece remaining firmly anchored within Europe as opposed to having no friends to turn to in their hour of need.

Even though such an outcome does not seem the most likely at this point in time, it should not be dismissed. Opinion polls have repeatedly shown that the Greeks want to remain in both the EU and the eurozone.

And with Mr Tsipras now sending mixed signals to his own people over how he views the bailout offer, the possibility of the people going against his wishes will only get bigger.

This would obviously have political consequences for him as he is unlikely to be able to govern given the platform upon which he was elected.

But it is unlikely the Prime Minister will be able to govern if Greece does not reach a deal, in any case.