ATHENS: The toughest conditions ever attached to a Greek loan agreement could sail easily through Greece’s turbulent parliament when a vote is held Wednesday, even as widespread defections from Alexis Tsipras’s governing coalition threaten his government.
That’s because Greece’s main opposition political parties, conservative New Democracy, centrist To Potami and Socialist Pasok, have united in supporting the sweeping reform agenda that is a prerequisite to keeping the country in the euro.
“The measures included in the agreement are the measures which have been approved by the Greek parliament,” Tsipras said after a marathon summit of euro-area leaders on Monday, referring to a long list of actions needed to secure a new three-year bailout of as much as 86 billion euros ($95 billion.) The government submitted a bill Tuesday that ratifies the agreement and calls for additional annual revenues and savings of 4.5 billion euros from new taxes and social security reforms.
Tsipras had already won the parliament’s nod to negotiate a deal in return for austerity measures before he left for Brussels. The government’s proposal secured an overwhelming 251 votes in Greece’s 300-seat chamber Saturday, even without the backing more than a dozen lawmakers from Tsipras’s Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, party.
