Greek government seen calling confidence vote

The article referred to the deal as being the “first fire sale under a SYRIZA government” and a “large present to [Angela] Merkel and [Wolfgang] Schaeuble, clearly in return for their services in the formation of the new, deplorable memorandum”.

The government has said its priority is now securing the bailout funding, which it needs by Thursday to meet a large debt repayment to the European Central Bank, and that any further decisions on the political situation will be taken from then on.

The Tsipras government has agreed the privatizations of public assets as part of the deal reached its global creditors to win a new bailout worth €86 billion, approved by parliament on Friday.

Unofficial reports that the Greek government is poised to announce a vote of confidence in the next few days is casting a shadow over the country’s third bailout program as fellow euro zone members prepare to vote on the deal.

Elections would be held three to four weeks after being declared.

PASOK made clear that while it had backed the government over the bailout for the sake of saving Greece from financial ruin, that support would not continue. “All the negative consequences for the country and its citizens bear the signatures of Mr Tsipras and Mr Kammenos”, the party said in a statement. However, the government needed the help of the opposition parties, as 31 lawmakers from the leftist party voted against, with 11 abstentions. That poll gave Syriza 33.6 percent support, a 15.8 percentage-point lead over the main opposition New Democracy party.

The concession includes operating, maintaining, managing and expanding the 14 regional airports by 2055, together with its Greek consortium partner Copelouzos Group.

“Such a major numeric loss of parliamentary majority is unprecedented”, said Skourletis, a former spokesman for Tsipras.