Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Friday to lend Greece up to 86 billion euros ($96 billion) after Greek lawmakers accepted their stiff conditions despite a revolt by supporters of leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
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“Of course there were differences but we have managed to solve the last issues”, Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Djisselbloem told reporters in Brussels.
Assuming final approval next week by the German and some other national parliaments, an initial tranche of 26 billion euros would be approved by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) next Wednesday.
That will allow Greece to repay $3.6 billion it owes the European Central Bank by a Thursday deadline.
Greece narrowly escaped an exit from the 19-member eurozone in July following months of uncertainty after the government and its worldwide creditors struck a bailout “aGreekment” in a reform-for-aid deal for the debt-stricken country.
A senior member of parliament, Makis Voridis from the opposition New Democracy party immediately said his party would not vote in favour of the government, raising the odds that the government could be toppled. “If we don’t find a solution, we will have to do bridge financing”, he said, referring to a short-term loan so Greece can make its next debt payment on August. 20.
Key ruling Syriza party members, including former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, voted against the bill, while some of his allies abstained. “We undertook the responsibility to stay alive over choosing suicide”.
They include keeping the IMF involved in overseeing the new euro zone programme while delaying satisfying the Fund’s calls for debt relief for Greece until a review in October.
139-c-13-(Derek Gatopoulos, AP correspondent)-“this particular vote“-AP correspondent Derek Gatopoulos reports the Greek parliament has approved the third draft of a bailout plan”.
That could once again delay the implementation of the austerity measures mandated by the deal as well as action by the other eurozone countries to lower Greece’s debt load.
The past six months of negotiations with Athens had been hard and testing, Juncker added.
European officials and a document seen by The Wall Street Journal ahead of Friday’s meeting suggest that ministers will likely approve a first EUR13 billion bailout slice, destined largely to paying Greece’s global creditors, including the ECB and the IMF.
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But Greece is hoping that agreement to the tough measures will garner it some good will with exasperated EU leaders and possibly a degree of debt relief, which some Eurozone ministers have hinted is possible. He now has more ammunition to fight the dissident left of his Syriza party, which is in open rebellion against the deal.
