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Snap summary: Bailout plan passes, but Tsipras is bruised Greece’s parliament has taken a crucial step towards a third bailout, by approving the economic measures required by its lenders. Guardian, July 15 <http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jul/15/greek-crisis-mps-bailout-imf-debt-relief-alexis-tsipras-live> With 229 MPs voting yes, and just 64 voting no, Athens has now given the green light to the plan -- even though the prime minister himself admitted many of the “harsh” measures would hurt the Greek economy. This means that other European parliaments can now vote on the plan too. And it should encourage the eurozone to finalise a $7bn bridge loan later on Wednesday. Tsipras has also suffered a serious rebellion among his own ranks. Almost 40 MPs weren’t prepared to support measures which ran counter to their election pledges in January. Prominent No voters included energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis (cue uproar) and Parliamentary speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou. It’s not immediately clear how Tsipras will handle this rebellion. It could have been worse, but it’s certainly a challenge to his authority given his government only holds 162 out of 300 seats. Deal with lenders approved despite strong SYRIZA opposition I Kathimerini, Athens, July 16 <http://www.ekathimerini.com/199591/article/ekathimerini/news/deal-with-lenders-approved-despite-strong-syriza-opposition> Greek Parliament passed the prior actions demanded by lenders to pave the way for bridge financing and a third bailout in a vote during the early hours of Thursday morning. A total of 229 MPs voted for the measures, 64 voted against, six voted present and one was absent. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saw 32 of his MPs vote against the measures, while another six abstained. All of the deputies from coalition partner Independent Greeks backed the legislation. This means that the number of coalition lawmakers supporting the bill remained above the 120-mark, which is the level below which the government is considered not to have a mandate to continue. . . . The opposition delivered harsh criticism against SYRIZA, and against Tsipras for his absence in the early part of the debate but also indicated they would back the bill. The leader of the centrist Potami, Stavros Theodorakis accused Tsipras of intentionally delaying an agreement with creditors as “he was afraid of his party.” He called on the premier not to keep in his government those MPs who break ranks. As for Potami, he said it would back the government on the deal “even though a much better one could have been reached.” New Democracy’s rapporteur Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Parliament that Greece “is paying very dearly for the political coming-of-age of SYRIZA.” “We believe in the depoliticization of the public administration. I strived for that as minister,” he added. “We will vote for the measures due to political conscience not due to party-imposed discipline,” he said, specifying that ND will vote for the prior actions this week and next week but that the government cannot rely on an “a la carte governing majority in which MPs can vote for some measures but not others.” _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
