EUROZONE-GREECE/ATHENS MORNING REAX Greeks call for strong government after parliament agrees bailout measures

Record ID: 146943

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/ATHENS MORNING REAX Greeks call for strong government after parliament agrees bailout measures
  • Date: 16th July 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JULY 16, 2015) (REUTERS) GREEK PARLIAMENT ROOF OF GREEK PARLIAMENT SYNTAGMA SQUARE FOUNTAIN IN SQUARE MAN SLEEPING ON BENCH PEOPLE AT ENTRANCE TO METRO SYNTAGMA SQUARE WITH PARLIAMENT IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF GREEK FLAG FLYING AT PARLIAMENT VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) SYRIZA PARTY MEMBER, STAMATIS SKABARDONIS, SAYING: "Altogether we will f
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5U6O3O953JD9N88GDC0MKG49Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greeks woke up to the news on Thursday (July 16) that the country's parliament had passed a set of sweeping austerity measures demanded by lenders to open talks on a new multibillion-euro bailout package to keep Greece in the euro.
    But the country's leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras now faces a challenge after dozens of deputies from his own Syriza party deserted him, voting against the package.
    The measures were approved with 229 votes in the 300-seat chamber. There were 64 votes against it and six abstentions. But Tsipras required the support of pro-European opposition parties to push the measure through, leaving a question over the future of his government.
    In exchange for funding worth up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion), Greece has accepted reforms including significant pension adjustments, increases to value added taxes, an overhaul of its collective bargaining system, measures to liberalise its economy and tight limits on public spending.
    It has also agreed to sequester 50 billion euros of public assets in a special privatisation fund to act as collateral on the deal.
    People in the streets of Athens said that what they now hoped for was a strong government, despite the ruling party having to rely on the opposition to pass the bailout bill.
    "Altogether we will fight to change this situation, the situation which is a noose around our necks. It was a hard decision, but it was a brave decision. The people will be in the streets and they will fight so that this leftist government does not fall," said Stamatis Skabardonis, who is a member of the Syriza party.
    "This government is not going to fall. They will proceed as needed so that we get out of this dead-end," 71-year-old pensioner Theofilos told Reuters in Athens' central Syntagma Square.
    "I hope that we will manage to get through this situation. It will be hard with these measures, but there is no other option. I hope for the best," said 26-year-old Yannis Skrekis.
    "What we want is a strong government so that all the measures can be implemented and we have a better future," said another woman who declined to give her name.
    "The result is what it should have been. The least the prime minister can now do is have a reshuffle. Elections are out of the question and we will see," said 72-year-old civil engineer Nikos.
    Meanwhile the head of Germany's Green Party, who was also visiting Athens, told Reuters that despite Greece's deep problems, now was the time to look for better ways to invest in the country's future, together with its European partners.
    "Of course you have to be aware that it cannot be solved overnight. The problems are too far-reaching for this but last night was a first step in the right direction with structural reforms," said Cem Oezdemir.
    "But it is also clear that some of the agreed reforms will be recessionary so it is important that at the same time there is investment in the fields of the future, for example renewable energies. When you see how strong the sun shines here then it is absurd that this country invests in oil imports and the waste industry. There are so many areas in the modernisation of agriculture where Germany and Greece, Europe and Greece, can work together closely and we should talk about this in the future. Stop the blame game, and now we have to work together," he said.
    The new measures were branded "social genocide" by the firebrand speaker of parliament Zoe Constantopoulou and there were violent clashes between protestors and police outside parliament as the debate went on before the vote on Wednesday (July 15) evening.
    Among the 38 Syriza rebels was former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who was sacked by Tsipras last week and who denounced the bailout deal as "a new Versailles Treaty" - the agreement that demanded unaffordable reparations from Germany after its defeat in World War One.
    Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and Deputy Labour Minister Dimitris Stratoulis also voted against the package.
    Amid speculation that both ministers could lose their jobs in a reshuffle, possibly as early as Thursday, Lafazanis said he remained loyal to the government but was ready to offer his resignation, joining Deputy Finance Minister Nadia Valavani, who stepped down earlier on Wednesday.
    Elected in January on an anti-austerity platform, Tsipras made an about-turn following gruelling all-night negotiations in Brussels on Monday (July 13), giving in to lenders' demands for immediate reforms to prevent a chaotic exit from the single currency.
    Speaking in parliament before the vote, Tsipras made clear he was supporting the package against his will but there was no alternative if Greece was to avoid financial collapse.
    With Greek parliamentary approval secured, the way has been cleared for other national parliaments to approve the start of bailout talks and for the release of funding to allow Greek banks to re-open, more than two weeks after capital controls were imposed to prevent them from collapsing.
    With Greece facing an urgent deadline on July 20, when a 3.5 billion euro payment to the European Central Bank is due, EU officials raced to agree a bridge financing accord that would enable Athens to avoid defaulting on the loan.
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