EUROZONE-GREECE/FINANCE MINISTER Greek FinMin bids for bailout approval as Greeks brace for harsh austerity measures

Record ID: 144176

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/FINANCE MINISTER Greek FinMin bids for bailout approval as Greeks brace for harsh austerity measures
  • Date: 13th August 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 13, 2015) (REUTERS) PARLIAMENT BUILDING WITH CROWD STANDING SYNTAGMA SQUARE WITH PARLIAMENT BUILDING IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING BY FOUNTAIN IN SQUARE (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) 57-YEAR-OLD ATHENS RESIDENT, DIMITRIS, SAYING: "Unfortunately it will be voted in. Our only salvation may come only if a big country like Italy, which will have the same problem shortly - in three or five years - it is then that the northern Europeans, the Germans, will start becoming more cooperative, or maybe France." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) 48-YEAR-OLD PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEE, NIKOS, SAYING: "I see more misery coming, that is all. I think people will rebel. The European Union wishes to have slaves, I am against this, I want us to return to the drachma and to immediately exit the EU." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) RETIRED CIVIL SERVANT, MARIA, SAYING: "I think the new measures will be very harsh, at least based on what I have heard so far. I believe that at the end of this three year period many Greeks will be on the brink of destruction and will face many problems. I don't know how we will be able to escape all of this." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) 55-YEAR-OLD ATHENS RESIDENT, VASSILIS, SAYING: "The government promised us one thing and did something else. These measures are harsher than the previous measures. I don't know, every new government introduces a new bailout plan. This is the third bailout, I am expecting a fourth to come also, but I don't know who the rebel will be that will bring this fourth bailout." VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER STAND KATHIMERINI NEWSPAPER FRONT PAGE READING (Greek): "PM AND PARTIES IN NERVOUS BREAKDOWN" NEWSPAPERS HANGING ON DISPLAY TA NEA NEWSPAPER FRONT PAGE READING (Greek): "(TSIPRAS) VOTES IN THE AGREEMENT / WATCHES FOR OBSTACLES" ETHNOS NEWSPAPER FRONT PAGE READING (Greek): "PARTIES HAVING NERVOUS BREAKDOWN BECAUSE OF BAILOUT" PEOPLE WALKING ON THE STREETS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CROSSING ROAD VIEW OF ATHENS WITH ACROPOLIS IN DISTANCE VARIOUS OF PARTHENON ON ACROPOLIS
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ORSK7PBFKC13YGZLO7HFPIOP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos pressed lawmakers on the importance of ratifying a new bailout deal on Thursday (August 13) during a parliamentary vote set to take place later that night.
    "If tomorrow there is no agreement at the Eurogroup about the agreement that we discussed with the institutions, then Finland will not vote and we will be forced to accept a bridge loan. Whoever wants to risk this is welcome to vote against our request for an emergency plenary session," said Tsakalotos at a parliament committees session, addressing lawmakers representing political parties.
    The Greek parliament is preparing to approve the 85 billion euro bailout deal that Greece needs to avoid defaulting on a debt repayment next week.
    The agreement is expected to easily pass since opposition parties have promised to support Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to ensure Greece does not return to financial chaos.
    But the vote will test the strength of a rebellion by anti-austerity lawmakers of Tsipras's leftist Syriza party, which could raise pressure on him to call snap elections as early as September.
    With Greeks limited to withdrawing 420 euros a week from their accounts and businesses subject to severe controls on payments, many are pessimistic about the bailout agreement and nervous of further strains on normal life. Including Dimitris, who lives in the capital Athens.
    "Unfortunately it will be voted in. Our only salvation may come only if a big country like Italy, which will have the same problem shortly - in three or five years - it is then that the northern Europeans, the Germans, will start becoming more cooperative, or maybe France," he said.
    Nikos, a private sector employee expected the Greek people to rebel.
    "I see more misery coming, that is all. I think people will rebel. The European Union wishes to have slaves, I am against this I want us to return to the drachma and to immediately exit the EU," he said.
    Maria, a retired civil servant, said she was worried about the situation Greeks would face at the end of the three-year period of the bailout.
    "I think the new measures will be very harsh, at least based on what I have heard so far. I believe that at the end of this three year period many Greeks will be on the brink of destruction and will face many problems. I don't know how we will be able to escape all of this."
    Vassilis said he was doubtful the third bailout would be the last Greece would need.
    "The government promised us one thing and did something else. These measures are harsher than the previous measures. I don't know, every new government introduces a new bailout plan. This is the third bailout, I am expecting a fourth to come also, but I don't know who the rebel will be that will bring this fourth bailout," he said.
    As Greece needs the deal to make a 3.2 billion euro debt repayment to the European Central Bank on Aug. 20, Tsipras asked parliamentary speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou to expedite debate on the bill approving the bailout.
    Konstantopoulou, a Syriza hardliner who opposes the deal, responded by calling a series of parliamentary committee meetings to consider the bill on Thursday, delaying the start of the plenary debate that is likely to last well beyond midnight before the vote is held.
    Greece's economy unexpectedly returned to growth in the second quarter despite political turmoil and the threat of a Greek eurozone exit, data showed on Thursday.
    Revised data also showed that Greece posted no growth or decline in economic output in the first quarter instead of a previously reported 0.2 percent contraction. That meant the country did not enter into a recession at the start of the year as previously believed - a slide that was expected to have been exacerbated by Tsipras' hard line against the austerity imposed by international lenders.
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