Fitch Ratings upgraded its view on Greek banks Thursday after upping Greece’s credit rating earlier this week.
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Energy and Environment Minister Panos Skourletis said there were two reasons for snap polls, which come just seven months after the government came to power.
The austerity measures needed for the deal have angered many in the party, but Tsipras had to agree to further painful state sector cuts, including pension reforms, in exchange for the bailout – and keeping Greece in the eurozone. Tsipras has insisted that although he disagrees with the bailout conditions, he had no choice but to accept and implement them.
Syriza members have argued that the party should aim for a majority, saying this would achieve the stable government which Greece has lacked through the past five years of crisis.
Another source said elections could be held on September 13. Tsipras is betting that he can swap out these rebels for more amenable allies, and maybe even take some seats from the fractious and disunited opposition to win an outright Syriza majority, instead of being forced into another coalition government with an outside party.
Tsipras’s resignation not only paves the way for a new election but also sets the stage for the nation’s first-ever female prime minister. “And major reforms seem unlikely to be passed in the period running up to the election”.
The news was met with early encouragement by Martin Selmayr, who serves in the president of the European Commission’s cabinet.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has told Greek voters he secured the best deal possible to keep the debt-laden country in Europe. “For the stock markets it is a factor of uncertainty”.
He said that he no longer had the mandate of the Greek people which he received when Syriza was first voted into power in January on an anti-austerity platform, and they “must decide anew”.
The government had to close the banks at the end of June for three weeks as panicking savers pulled out billions, and imposed capital controls strictly limiting withdrawals from the banking system.
He did not mention a date for the election, although it will have to be held within the next month.
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Last week, Dijsselbloem and the other eurozone finance ministers approved in principle the bailout to keep Greece in the single currency bloc, pay its bills and revive its shattered economy.
