– May: Greece becomes the first eurozone country to receive a bailout as the EU and International Monetary Fund agree to a 110 billion euro package of loans in exchange for austerity measures that include wage cuts and tax hikes.
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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the deal has sent a message “loud and clear that Greece is and will irreversibly remain a member of the Eurozone”.
The bailout bill passed through the parliament thanks to support from opposition parties, with 222 votes in favor, 64 against, 11 abstentions and three absent in the 300-member parliament.
Even so, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose leftist Syriza party was deeply split in the vote, fell short of the 120 votes he would need to survive a censure motion, “leading to speculation he would call a confidence vote next week and snap elections as early as next month”, the Guardian reports.
That will allow Greece to repay $3.6 billion it owes the European Central Bank by a Thursday deadline.
“Faced with an ultimatum for Greece’s temporary exit from the euro, we assumed our responsibility towards the Greek people to stay alive and keep on fighting, rather than choose suicide”.
Parliamentary speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou, one of the Syriza hardliners, snubbed a request from Tsipras to speed up handling of the bailout bill so that it can be voted on well before the finance ministers meet in Brussels on Friday.
Germany, who was the largest single contributor to Greece’s two previous bailouts, has been the country’s harshest critic and has maintained a cautious stance.
“Maybe the Germans’ plans is that we get them (Greece) going and don’t write off any debt or give any debt forgiveness now but then maybe, maybe in a few months down the line if they stick to the program we can extend (debt maturities) and pretend further”, he said.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said the vote in Athens means the eurozone should now approve the rescue deal. The creditors will conduct regular reviews, the first due in October, to ensure the reforms are being fully implemented.
Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to a third bailout program for crisis-stricken Greece. “That would not be a defeat for (Greek Finance Minister Euclid) Tsakalotos, or for Greece, but for Europe”.
“I do not regret my decision to compromise”, Tsipras said in parliament in defense of the deal.
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A second tranche up to 15 billion euros can be made available no later than November. 15, which aims “for banking recapitalisation and resolution needs”, the statement said. The fund has said it will decide on whether to participate in the new bailout once it has been set up and Greece’s European partners have decided on how to ease its debt burden. She noted, “Greece cannot restore debt sustainability exclusively through actions on its own”.
