Majority of Dutch lawmakers supports Greece bailout

Greece seems to be increasingly heading towards the holding of early elections after the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has lost vital support from his party in parliament. Elections will be held within a month, with government officials saying September 20 would be the likeliest date.

The dissent within the main ruling party SYRIZA started to appear after Tsipras committed Greece to implementing certain reforms in exchange for being granted a third bailout by its worldwide creditors.

The move – a virtual formality – came after Germany’s parliament approved the bailout package, along with the assemblies of other creditor nations, removing a big hurdle to release the new loans.

The board also adopted a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Greece, specifying the policy measures that the Greek government has agreed to undertake in order to tackle the main challenges facing its economy. But he has said accepting creditor demands for yet more reforms was the only way to ensure his country remains in the eurozone, which opinion polls have shown the vast majority of his population wants.

The bailout accord goes far beyond economic management to include an extensive overhaul of Greece’s health and social welfare systems plus its business practices and public administration. “For the stock markets it is a factor of uncertainty”.

“This is the result of intense work over the past month between the Greek authorities and the [creditor] institutions – the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the worldwide Monetary Fund and the European Stability Mechanism agency”. Companies have faced problems paying suppliers overseas, with all global payments requiring a laborious process of approval by a special finance ministry committee.