MADRID: Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras won backing from lawmakers on Saturday for painful reforms but it remained unclear it would be enough to secure a bailout from German and other euro zone ministers meeting in Brussels.
In parliament overnight, Tsipras had to rely on opposition votes from the right after some of his leftist allies opposed spending cuts, tax rises and other measures he proposed in order to unlock 54 billion euros in three-year credit and save Greece from a bankruptcy that would force it out of the euro zone.
But Germany, the biggest creditor in two previous bailouts totalling 240 billion euros ($265 billion), is deeply sceptical after five months of abortive negotiations. Euro zone sources said it was far from certain that the 19-strong Eurogroup of finance ministers would agree to open negotiations at a crisis meeting scheduled to start at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).
