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According to media reports, if Meimarakis fails, Greece could hold snap parliamentary elections as early as on September 20.

But, he’s previously proclaimed his loyalty to Tsipras and current finance minister Tsakalotos, who he considers “good friends” and said he enjoys the life of a backbench MP.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced that he will step down, paving the way for early elections following a bruising battle over austerity measures linked to a European bailout package that caused a major split in the leftist ruling party.

In the Netherlands, a majority of lawmakers also backed the new Greek rescue after a heated debate in which Prime Minister Mark Rutte was attacked for reneging on an election pledge to not approve another bailout for Greece.

Greece met its Thursday deadline to repay EUR3.4 billion to the European Central Bank, the Frankfurt-based lender confirmed, hours after Athens received a 13-billion-euro payment from its newly approved bailout.

The German parliament has approved a third bailout deal for Greece by a large margin.

The article referred to the deal as being the “first fire sale under a SYRIZA government” and a “large present to [Angela] Merkel and [Wolfgang] Schaeuble, clearly in return for their services in the formation of the new, deplorable memorandum”.

Finance ministers of the 19-nation euro single currency group have approved the first 26 billion euros ($29 billion) of a vast new bailout package to help rebuild Greece’s shattered economy.

The €85 billion package – which introduces sweeping austerity measures – was ultimately approved with support from opposition parties after an all-night parliamentary session.

To qualify for its third bailout in five years, Greece must agree to sweeping changes to the way it manages its economy.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza party looked set to split after the leader of its far-left faction called for a new movement to fight a bailout deal that lawmakers will vote on later on Thursday.

A Greek government official said the hope is that a deal that “covers everything” will be concluded as soon as possible and indicated that one could be imminent by the time of a meeting of the eurozone’s 19 finance ministers on Friday.

“We’re talking about a program for three years, it needs to be negotiated thoroughly”, Deputy Finance Minister Jens Spahn told Germany’s ARD television shortly before Greece and its worldwide lenders said they had concluded a new bailout package.

Greece’s prime minister said his country was in the “final stage” of talks for a new bailout, as his left-wing government on Wednesday rejected the idea of extending the negotiations beyond this month.

Greece’s main stock index plunged over 22 percent as it reopened Monday after a five-week closure, giving investors their first opportunity since June to react to the country’s latest economic crisis.