Greek parliament backs government debt reform package

Pro-EU and pro-Euro – they voted “Yes” in the referendum.

The country has relied on bailout funding since losing access to financing from bond markets in 2010.

The motion, which sought to authorize the government to use the proposal as a basis for negotiation with global creditors during the weekend, passed with 251 votes in favor, 32 against and 8 voting “present” – a form of abstention – in the 300-member parliament.

In a bid to head off a possible challenge to the measures within his hard-left party Syriza, Tsipras urged his lawmakers “to stand united and firm in front of these important decisions”.

Ahead of the vote, Mr Tsipras acknowledged the proposals were a far cry from his party’s pre-election promises.

The plan handed to eurozone partners by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s administration just two hours before a midnight deadline will be submitted to lawmakers in Greece for a vote. Euro-zone finance ministers will discuss that assessment later Saturday, before a meeting of European Union leaders Sunday.

French President Francois Hollande welcomed the package, describing it as “serious and credible”. “The new measures are suffocating”, said Irini Skordara, 79, one of dozens of pensioners queuing outside a bank to withdraw their pension.

In Greece, government officials were confident their concessions would be accepted by the creditors.

Michael Fuchs, a senior Christian Democrat parliamentarian, said: “We have to be very careful because honestly, because I have a little bit of a problem to trust it because what is the difference between Sunday and today?” Murphy said these reforms are aimed at fostering greater competition in product markets and more flexibility in the collective bargaining process with labor unions. It all comes down to the reaction of officials at the global Monetary Fund (IMF), Germany and the European Central Bank.

As the government inched closer to a deal to ensure Greece isn’t jettisoned out of Europe’s joint currency, a few Greeks were furious at the proposed measures.

But the reaction of his own lawmakers in his radical left Syriza party is less certain.

They also overwhelmingly want to keep the euro. But over the last couple of weeks, we’ve basically watched Athens go all-in on its hand, then fold at the last second.

Although Greek voters last Sunday roundly voted “No” to accepting tough austerity terms for a bailout that expired June 30, they are alarmed at capital controls that have closed banks and rationed cash at ATMs. All money transfers overseas, including bill payments, require special permission.

Panagiotis Stamos, 54, a bank manager, said he expected the measure to be accepted.

Potami party leader Stavros Theodorakis says there’s no more room for discussions and that the Greek people want a deal ending “the anxiety and the stranglehold” that they feel.

While Tsipras can now vaunt Parliament’s support as a show of domestic resolve to his European counterparts, some of them may need more convincing on the plan itself.

In a statement issued after the vote, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he had a “strong mandate to complete the negotiations to reach an economically viable and socially fair agreement”.

“We should not lead the country to a Grexit, because we are completely unable to handle it and we should not cause more harm to our people”, he stressed.

The German government said it was too early to evaluate Greece’s proposals, however, while Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative allies in parliament questioned whether the Greek government had any credibility to implement overhauls.

A small group of pensioners held a protest outside the finance ministry in Athens and an anti-austerity demonstration is planned for Friday evening.

Tax breaks for Greece’s islands and cuts to military spending remain sticking points, as do his demands that the creditors offer some relief on the country’s 320-billion-euro debt mountain.