Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras issued a more-or-less urgent warning this week by saying that if the European Central Bank continued to reject his government’s request to raise the ceiling on the issuance of short-term T-bills, it (the ECB) will bear grave responsibility for what “will follow”.

His statements were published in an upcoming interview in the influential German magazine Der Spiegel.

To emphasize his point, he reportedly said that the ECB has got a “rope round Greece’s neck”, a point that may belie how serious a cash crunch the leftist government in Athens faces.

According to Reuters, which published excerpts of the interview set for publication on Saturday, Tsipras warned that he doesn’t want Greece to leave the euro, as he “loves Europe.”

Moreover, the Greek PM revealed that he has called on his Cabinet ministers, including “media darling” FinMin Yanis Varoufakis, to strive for “fewer words and more deeds.”