#ThisIsACoup: Greeks Denounce Bailout

BRUSSELS (AP) – After grueling, often mad negotiations that tested the limits of European unity, Greece struck a preliminary rescue deal with its creditors Monday that should avert an imminent financial catastrophe but also guarantees years more hardship and sacrifice for its people.

And leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras must drop his plans to rehire public workers and eliminate other austerity measures already in place – a platform that carried his Syriza party to victory in January.

The bailout agreement also calls for tough austerity measures – some tougher than Greece has previously been asked to endure.

The result of the marathon negotiations are about 85 billion euros (£60bn) in loans and financial support for Greece over three years that will preserve its membership in the euro, shore up its banks and allow a modicum of stability to return to the battered Greek economy.

“There will not be a “Grexit””, said European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, referring to the fear that if there had been no deal, Greece could have crashed out of the euro.

“One such criteria is debt sustainability, and we have to have an agreement that is sufficiently comprehensive and credible”.

Merkel, whose country is the biggest contributor to Euro zone bailouts, warned from the start that she would drive a hard bargain against a backdrop of mounting opposition at home to more aid for Greece.

Mr Tsipras will have to quell dissent within his party – probably by sacking ministers – and get unpopular austerity measures passed, such as pension reform and a higher goods and services tax.

“They want the government to fall and replace it with one not elected by the Greek people”. The country spends more on pensions as a proportion of its economy than any country in the European Union – more than double that of some, such as Slovakia, Estonia and Ireland.

Haralambos Rouliskos, a 60-year-old economist who was out walking in Athens, described the deal as “misery, humiliation and slavery”.

When it first defaulted at the end of June, the IMF froze Greece’s access to its resources, including the Fund’s ongoing financing program for the country.

Nikos Filis, the parliamentary spokesperson for the ruling Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, on ANT1 TV Monday morning, accused Germany of “tearing Europe apart” for the third time in the past century.

Yet he may gain enough support from the rest of Syriza and elsewhere to pass the new laws through the 300-seat parliament.

Many European officials also are openly fed up with Tsipras, whom they accuse of gamesmanship. Out of that €50 billion, €25 billion would be used to recapitalize Greek banks, he said.

Other potential partners in a national emergency coalition government such as To Potami, the socialists Pasok and New Democracy were preparing to back Mr Tsipras.

REUTERS/Paul HannaGreek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.It was, however, what the situation required: it is best for Greece to stay in the euro, and if this deal is what it takes, then so be it.

“We are reiterating our policy conclusions… that Greece’s debt is unsustainable and will require a significant debt operation”, a senior International Monetary Fund official said of the paper.

French President Francois Hollande said it was a path well worth taking. A draft of the package suggests Greece could temporarily leave the eurozone if no agreement on a bailout is reached.

The ECB meanwhile has kept Greek banks afloat with emergency liquidity, but has refused to provide extra funds.

The document agreed to Monday morning estimates Greece needs 7 billion euros by next Monday (July 20) and another 5 billion euros in August.

The International Monetary Fund said that “Greece’s debt can now only be made sustainable through debt relief measures that go far beyond what Europe has been willing to consider so far”.