Greek Parliament Votes Yes for Euro Bailout Deal

Germany’s finance minister says the Greek Parliament’s approval of an austerity package is “an important step” but is warning that talks on a final bailout deal will be tough – and that an outright debt cut would be incompatible with Greece keeping the euro.

The PM suffered a major mutiny from his lawmakers – 32 out of 149 voted against the measures, and a further six abstained – and he was forced to rely on the support of pro-European opposition parties.

Earlier, anti-austerity protesters hurled petrol bombs at police guarding the Greek parliament as MPs debated the deeply unpopular reforms they need to vote in to clear the way for a eurozone rescue of Greece’s failing economy.

APPHOTO XTS120: Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers a speech during a parliament meeting in Athens, Thursday, July 16, 2015.

In Athens, cleaners removed overnight the debris of a pitched battle on the central Syntagma Square outside parliament between black-masked anti-bailout militants and riot police.

Having reluctantly resigned to negotiating a third bailout from worldwide lenders on stringent terms, Tsipras must face down a rebellion in his anti-austerity Syriza party to push sweeping pro-market reforms and spending cuts through parliament.

The government described the vote as marking a “serious division” among its lawmakers, and indicated that dissenters in Tsipras’ Cabinet would be swiftly replaced. 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.

The vote was necessary to gain bailout cash, the country’s only hope for staying in the euro and reopening its banks anytime soon.

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“If at any point my resignation is sought it would be at the disposal of the (Prime Minister)”, Lafazanis told journalists.

The option of delaying the reshuffle means that Tsipras would avoid stoking tension within SYRIZA ahead of the next vote and would give the premier more time to seek suitable candidates for government posts, possibly from outside the political arena.

Athens said the new European funding will permit the re-opening of banks that have been closed since late June. European Union countries are awaited to approve the loan on Friday.