Saturday, July 11, 2015

Debt crisis: Greek MPs back bailout reform plan

Debt crisis: Greek MPs back bailout reform plan
Greece’s parliament has backed a government package of economic reforms aimed at ending the country’s debt crisis and securing a new bailout.
After winning cross-party support in a late-night vote, PM Alexis Tsipras said he had a “strong mandate” to complete negotiations with Greece’s creditors.
However, some of his own MPs withheld their support in protest at austerity measures contained in the new package.
The proposals are to be studied by eurozone finance ministers later.
EU sources says Greece’s creditors – the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – believe the plan is positive.
Eurozone officials are also expected to discuss Greek requests for some of the debt to be rescheduled.
In total, 251 MPs voted “Yes”, 32 voted “No” and eight abstaining. Nine deputies were absent including former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Among the members of Tsipras’s own Syriza party who abstained were Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis.
“The priority now is to have a positive outcome to the negotiations,” Tsipras said in a statement after the vote. “Everything else in its own time.”
Mr Tsipras is asking creditors for €53.5bn ($59.47bn) to cover Greece’s debts until 2018. It would be the debt-strapped country’s third bailout.
In return, he has given in to demands for a pension overhaul, tax rises and privatisations – measures rejected in a referendum last Sunday.
Greek banks are days away from running out of money and unless a deal is struck the country faces a possible exit from the euro.
The BBC’s Mark Lowen in Athens says the package is a major climbdown for the prime minister, whose radical left-wing Syriza party was elected on a strong anti-austerity platform.
Addressing MPs before the vote, Tsipras admitted that his government had made mistakes but he said the new proposals offered the best possible deal for Greece.

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