Greek Parliament Approves Austerity Bill Demanded By Bailout Creditors

A total of 229 MPs voted in favour, 64 were against, 6 abstained, while one MP was absent, daily Kathimerini informs.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced a revolt in his left-wing party and workers’ called for strikes ahead of a vote in Parliament.

Greek’s parliament on Thursday approved an omnibus draft bill ratifying the debt deal the government reached with creditors on Monday and the first round of reforms requested as prerequisites for the immediate release of worldwide aid to avert imminent default and Grexit, media reports said.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has almost split his party in the process, insisted he did not agree with the bulk of the draconian deal, that demands tax hikes, a pensions overhaul and privatisation pledges.

Meanwhile, sporadic violence erupted in central Athens as riot police fired teargas and fought running battles with anti-austerity protesters armed with molotov cocktails.

Greek banks could open for the first time in weeks as the nation’s parliament passed through the fresh austerity measures required to secure a €86bn bailout package from the eurozone.

Meanwhile, the Abbott government has welcomed the Greek parliament’s decision to pass new austerity measures and hopes it will lead to greater stability in the country and across Europe.

The government described the vote as marking a “serious division” among its lawmakers, and indicated that dissenters in Tsipras’ Cabinet would be swiftly replaced. “If I do not have its support, it will be hard to be prime minister the day after”, he told the lawmakers, according to the official.

Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister who is the Greeks’ greatest bugbear, unexpectedly relaxed his immovable stand yesterday by suggesting that the Greek debt of more than 300 billion euros might be written down after all.

The terms imposed by lenders for Greece to access 86 billion euros has forced Tsipras to abandon promises of ending austerity.

The International Monetary Fund study said Greece’s financial muddle has worsened considerably and European countries would have to give Greece a 30-year grace period on servicing all its European debt, including new loans, and a dramatic maturity extension. Finland’s parliament agreed to the deal Thursday. European Union countries are awaited to approve the loan on Friday.