Greek parliament approves massive bailout plan

The plan still needs approval from eurozone parliaments. But it is risky for Greek PM Alexis Tsipras.

Among those in Syriza’s parliamentary group who voted “no” to the deal was Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s outspoken finance minister until his ousting in July.

Thanks to opposition support, Mr Tsipras easily managed to cross the 151-vote threshold in the 300-seat chamber to pass the bill. Syriza was elected on an anti-austerity platform. “We no longer have a democracy… but a eurozone dictatorship”, prominent party member and former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said ahead of the vote.

“This means that the “new” Syriza – the party likely to win the largest amount of votes and seats – will have to strike another coalition deal to govern”.

Friday’s vote was only the latest in a series of events highlighting the rift within Syriza, which stormed to power this year on a pledge to end austerity once and for all, before Tsipras accepted the new bailout to avoid a banking collapse. The bailout bill has passed by a comfortable majority. He said the country had no choice.

“So let’s hope the Greek people will be able to make the best of this deal, to make the best of the reforms and the ability to reform and mitigate any negative consequences that surely exist”, he said. “When you have elections in Greece, it’s clear that nothing else happens”.

But for now, the scene is set for eurozone finance ministers, meeting in Brussels later in the day, to give the bailout their seal of approval.

Greek MPs backed the deal on Friday morning after a marathon all-night session marked by procedural delays and often angry exchanges in parliament. MPs voted at 9:30 local time, six hours after the debate began – government procedure had delayed it until the middle of the night.

Germany, which has reservations about okaying the debt accord, has suggested just giving Greece a bridging loan to allow it to repay debt falling due August 20 to the European Central Bank, an option Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras says will only prolong the crisis. Officials said the Fund needed more assurances and detail on Greek reforms, notably to pensions, and steps to persuade it that Greece’s debt burden was sustainable.

Tsipras told parliament his government had “taken on the responsibility to continue the fight rather than commit suicide and then go running to other global forums saying it wasn’t fair that we had to kill ourselves”.

Recapitalization of Greek banks is also scheduled for autumn, eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said, announcing the results of the meeting.

The rebels insist the government should stand by the promises on which it was elected, to reverse the waves of spending cuts and tax rises which have had a devastating effect on an already weak economy over the past few years.