EUROZONE-GREECE/BAILOUT TSIPRAS-OPPOSITION Greek PM appeals to lawmakers, secures vote to pass bailout

Record ID: 143913

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/BAILOUT TSIPRAS-OPPOSITION Greek PM appeals to lawmakers, secures vote to pass bailout
  • Date: 14th August 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 14, 2015) (REUTERS) SUN RISING BEHIND GREEK PARLIAMENT (TIME-LAPSE EFFECT)
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEIHQZQA1YXHLHOMVP753JBF0W
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The sun had risen on Friday (August 14) by the time Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed lawmakers in parliament after a marathon session that lasted throughout the night.
    The Greek government secured enough votes to pass the bailout agreement in parliament after a long hours of bickering between lawmakers.
    Earlier Tsipras urged lawmakers to approve the 85-billion-euro bailout agreement with creditors, calling it a "necessary choice" for the nation.
    "I don't regret either fighting as no one else, as far as I know - I don't want to insult anyone - in order to defend the rights of the Greek people, this right that I believed in as well. However, I also do not regret deciding the compromise (bailout deal), instead of a heroic suicide for a great majority of the Greek people," he added.
    Addressing parliament before lawmakers voted on the deal, Tsipras said Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos faced a battle at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers later on Friday to avert the threat of a bridge loan - which he called a return to a "crisis without end" - being offered to Greece instead of bailout aid.
    "The return to political crisis - because that is what a bridge loan would mean, it means a return to a crisis without end," he said. "We need to say things as they are - the real choice was between a bailout with the euro or a bailout with the drachma. Something that Germany's finance minister still today insists on, proposing it again and again so that this agreement does not go through."
    The approval comes on the same day as eurozone finance ministers are due to meet and decide whether to approve the vital aid for Athens.
    Despite the ruling Syriza party apparently heading for a split over the 85 billion euro ($95 billion) programme, parliament was expected to approve the agreement with Greece's eurozone and International Monetary Fund creditors by a comfortable margin, since opposition parties had promised to back Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to ensure that Greece does not return to financial chaos.
    Tempers flared with the conservative opposition accusing Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos of making "provocative" comments and warning him not to take its support for the deal for granted.
    New Democracy leader Vangelis Meimarakis demanded a solution.
    "We demand for the political situation in the country to clear up, a solution needs to be found. This cannot go on, the opposition can't keep being the one to help pass bills and at the same time you cannot be the ones to keep revoking the opposition during the plenary session, when we are saying that we will support your bill. This can't go on, mister prime minister you must find a solution," said Meimarakis.
    Tsipras faces a rebellion within Syriza, with leftist members refusing to accept his promises of tax rises and spending cuts in exchange for fresh loans under Greece's third financial rescue programme in five years.
    Eurozone ministers still have to approve the deal for aid to be disbursed before Athens must make a 3.2 billion euro debt payment to the European Central Bank on Aug. 20.
    If it defaults on this debt, the ECB is likely to halt emergency funding for Greece's crippled banks.
    Athens was forced to close the banks for three weeks and even now capital controls severely limiting withdrawals and payments aboard remain, badly hurting the economy.
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