GREECE-BUDGET VOTE Greek parliament approves 2015 budget plan

Record ID: 328397

  • Title: GREECE-BUDGET VOTE Greek parliament approves 2015 budget plan
  • Date: 8th December 2014
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (DECEMBER 8, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PARLIAMENT ENTRANCE TO PARLIAMENT (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) SYRIZA MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER, ALEXIS TSIPRAS, SAYING: "The vote result proves the government is one step away from its end. The sooner the prime minister realises this so we can go to elections the better for the country." SAMARAS APPROACHING REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE)(Greek) GREEK PRIME MINISTER, ANTONIS SAMARAS, SAYING: "After many decades, this year our country has managed to acquire its first balanced budget. This is a historic moment, the elderly will be surprised that this is possible and I hope the youth will continue on this path because this is the only way for growth, for true growth, without turbulence." SAMARAS ENTERING CAR
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABWY5VI0RSUN31DND3TCE84VLT
  • Story Text: Greece's parliament approved next year's budget in the early hours of Monday (December 8), setting aside a dispute with European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders who say Athens must accept more austerity to meet budget targets.
    The vote passed with 155 lawmakers in favour with 134 lawmakers against in the 300-seat chamber.
    It came against the backdrop of a volatile political climate in Greece, as Prime Minister Antonis Samaras struggles to push through an early exit from an unpopular EU/IMF aid program and ensure the survival of his government after a presidential vote next year.
    "I call upon you, ladies and gentlemen of parliament, to vote for the first balanced budget in decades, and thus make this huge step, this huge symbolic step towards the next day for Greece. And then, immediately we will move forward with the election of a new president and a constitutional review which will take out politics of this country out of its quagmire," Samaras told parliament before the budget was voted, adding, "the bailout programme is coming to an end. The support programme for Greece and the borrowing will be completed a year earlier than anticipated."
    Main opposition party leader, Alexis Tsipras, shed doubt on the prime minister's assertions on the end of the bailout programme and called for elections.
    "The bailout programme is not something that you can enter and exit any time you want. Those who serve the bailout cannot easily find the exit. The bailout programme is an establishment, it is the framework of laws regulating the entire economic spectrum, from the labor market to the planning of the budget and you brought this bailout here to stay," said Tsipras adding, "the vote result proves the government is one step away from its end. The sooner the prime minister realises this so we can go to elections the better for the country."
    Samaras at present does not have the needed opposition support to elect his candidate for president. New elections must be called if parliament fails to elect a president.
    The 2015 budget plan is the closest to a balanced budget Greece has produced in more than three decades and promises cuts to crisis-era taxes as well as higher economic growth next year.
    But the row with the EU and IMF over a disputed budget shortfall next year has held up the country's final bailout inspection and plans to exit the aid programme. Greece's lenders are demanding 1.7 billion euros in additional measures to hit budget targets next year but Athens has rejected the demands.
    Greek Finance Minister, Gikas Hardouvelis, said after the vote that a possible extension of the bailout will be decided later on Monday.
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