Thursday, July 23, 2015

Greece passes second reforms to unlock bailout deal

Greece's parliament has passed legislation on a second batch of reforms needed to help unlock a huge international bailout for the country's stricken economy.

The bill - containing judicial and banking reforms - easily passed early on Tuesday morning with the support of 230 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament, thanks to the support of pro-euro opposition parties.

  • But 36 out of 149 deputies from Greek Prime Minister's Alexis Tsipras' Syriza party voted against the overall bill or abstained - less than the rebellion by 39 deputies in last week's vote on an initial set of reforms.
Analysts had regarded Thursday morning's vote as an important test of whether Tsipras could avoid another deep split within his own party and head off the risk of early elections after only six months in power.

The bill includes civil justice reforms, a bank deposit protection scheme and measures to shore up the liquidity of the banks.

"We made tough choices, and I personally made difficult, responsible choices. Today we must all redefine the possibilities ahead of us given the new circumstances," Tsipras said in an appeal to parliament to back the reforms on Thursday.

"We chose a difficult compromise to avert the most extreme plans by the most extreme circles in Europe."

Tsipras has publicly said he disagrees with measures demanded by Greece's eurozone peers and the IMF for talks to proceed on a third bailout to save the country from bankruptcy.

But after he made a U-turn by accepting a deal at the 11th hour to keep his country in the euro, he told party hardliners to face reality and back the package.

A first set of reforms that focused largely on tax hikes and budget discipline triggered a rebellion in Tsipras' ruling Syriza party last week and also passed only thanks to votes from pro-EU opposition parties.

The government has said it hopes negotiations on a 86 billion euro ($93bn) bailout deal can start this week and be wrapped up by August 20.

Apart from some minor incidents, there was no repeat of the violence seen at a rally in Athens last week, when masked youths hurled petrol bombs at police as lawmakers were debating the first bailout bill.
Source: Agencies - aljazeera.com

23/7/15
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2 comments:

  1. Grèce: les discussions sur le plan d'aide s'annoncent "difficiles", prévient le FMI...

    Le FMI a estimé jeudi que les discussions sur un nouveau plan d'aide à la Grèce s'annonçaient "difficiles" et nécessiteraient, au préalable, un engagement "concret" et "précis" des Européens à alléger la dette du pays. "Le chemin s'annonce clairement difficile, nous ne sommes qu'au début du processus", a déclaré le porte-parole du Fonds monétaire international (FMI) Gerry Rice, ajoutant que la participation future du Fonds au sauvetage de la Grèce "dépendrait" de l'issue des prochaines discussions sur les réformes et la dette.

    Après cinq mois d'impasse, Athènes et ses créanciers européens ont conclu le 13 juillet un accord-cadre prévoyant un nouveau plan d'aide en échange d'une quasi-mise sous tutelle du pays mais dont les modalités doivent encore être négociées.

    Mais le FMI, qui est associé au sauvetage de la Grèce depuis 2010, a conditionné sa participation future au plan d'aide à un allégement par les Européens de la dette grecque qui frôle les 180% de son produit intérieur brut.
    rtbf.be
    23/7/15

    ReplyDelete
  2. Europa und die griechische Tragikomödie...

    Die Positionen im Wirtschaftskrieg um Griechenland sind längst bezogen, die harten Urteile sind gefällt. Das schreit nach einem Versuch, die Gewissheiten aller Akteure in diesem Geschehen zu erschüttern. Auch die eigenen.

    Rund um Griechenland tobt ein Wirtschaftskrieg. Das Erste, was in Kriegen stirbt, ist die Wahrheit. Das Problem ist (siehe Herr Pilatus, Joh. 18,38): „Was ist Wahrheit?“ Die der Brüsseler Rechenschieber ist eine andere als die des sozialversicherungslosen Griechen. Die Wahrheit der Statistik ist eine andere als die der realen Armut.

    Politik sollte Krisen möglichst human bewältigen. Inmitten von Zahlenkolonnen geht die gelebte Empathie verloren. Frau Merkel hat es bei ihrer „Ich bin eine mitfühlende Politikerin“-Tour bewiesen. Wer über das Schicksal von Millionen entscheidet, muss wohl so ticken. Oder doch nicht?.................diepresse.com
    23/7/15

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