Greece’s Tsipras faces first test since bailout rebellion

The deal committed Athens to more tax hikes and public spending cuts in return for a three-year, 86-billion-euro ($96-billion) European Union bailout – its third since 2010 – which prevented it crashing out of the eurozone.

“We have to vote the prior actions…to conclude banks’ recapitalization now, to lift capital controls and to kick-start the economy”, Education Minister Nikos Filis told ANT1 television.

“They want us to work until we get very old, without pensions and with no access to health and security”, PAME said in a statement. It also alienated a large section of Tsipras’ radical left Syriza party who were strongly against further austerity.

The split forced him to call an early election held on September 20.

As parliament convened on Friday, several thousand protesters gathered in central Athens to voice their opposition to the bill.

The new bill paves the bottom, foreseeing that retirement age is regularly raised to sixty seven years for everywhere in the subsequent seven years and people who take an early retirement face an extra 10 % reduce on their pensions.

His government is now racing to overhaul its troubled pension system and impose a raft of new cutbacks. The cost of the reforms, as well as the ongoing controls on money transfers in the country, are expected to keep Greece in recession for at least the next two years.

The Greek prime minister criticised the pro-reform opposition parties for voting against the multi-bill on Saturday, and stressed that the bill opens the path for the conclusion of the bailout review so that the vital new recapitalisation of Greek banks can continue and talks with lenders on debt relief can start.