A Greek parliament vote satisfies the initial terms of a bailout deal between Athens and its EU creditors agreed at a 17-hour summit earlier this week, an EU spokeswoman said Thursday.
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Mr Tsipras is likely to lose the support of 30 to 40 Syriza lawmakers in the bailout vote, and to be forced to rely on opposition lawmakers to pass the bill, Eurasia Group analyst Mujtaba Rahman said in a note to clients.
Riot police try to avoid petrol bombs Wednesday thrown by anti-austerity protesters during clashes in Athens.
Tsipras, who was elected in January on promises of repealing bailout-related austerity measures, has acknowledged the deal tramples on most of his election pledges, but insists he had no other option than to accept the harsh terms offered by lenders to ensure his country’s financial system didn’t collapse. He could eject the “objectors” in a cabinet reshuffle, but unless the European Central Bank props up the Greek banks in the next few days, people, ordinary people, are going to start running out of cash and food insecurity is an imminent threat for many.
In a late night vote in Athens, MPs have pushed through further austerity in order to begin negotiations with creditors and release billions of euro of bailout funds.
“I do not know if we did the right thing”.
The European Commission formally proposed a short-term $7.6 billion loan for Greece while the deal and its reforms are being ratified, as banks may not open for months otherwise.
Tsipras, who was elected on a tough anti-austerity platform, told lawmakers there was no alternative, even though he disagreed with the measures.
Business Finance News reported of a Greekment, which seeks the troubled country to hike its VAT (value added tax), cut deeper into pension cuts, and see its defense budget shrink, as the underlining clause of the agreement has decreased government expenditure and increased revenues, which will enable the country to payback its creditors.
But the Prime Minister said sorting out the problems of the single currency was a “matter for eurozone countries”.
More than half of the members of Syriza’s central committee have signed a statement condemning the bailout agreement, describing it as a coup against their nation by European leaders.
Under the deal, Greek assets for privatisation will be parked in a special fund worth up to 50 billion euros, with some 25 billion euros of the money earmarked to recapitalise Greece’s banks. Some in the crowd hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the police, who responded with tear gas and pepper spray, temporarily turning the scene into fiery chaos.
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That stance aligned it with Tsipras on the question of debt reduction and provided him with new ammunition to argue that the bailout plan did not do enough to get the Greek economy back on its feet.
