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Tsipras Fights To Keep Greek Bailout Alive Amid Party Rebellion: Full Vote Preview
The Greek parliament will vote on a second batch of prior actions on Wednesday including EU rules on bank resolutions and civil justice reform amid protests from public sector union ADEDY which has pledged to "continue the battle so that the new barbaric bailout does not pass and is overturned," and so that Greece does fall under the "neocolonial control" of Brussels.
Although there will be a third vote during the first week of August on pension reforms and taxes on farmers (these issues were removed from Wednesday’s bill with Brussels’ blessing), formal discussions around a third program for Greece will begin immediately if, as expected, lawmakers approve today’s bill.
Although Alexis Tsipras will likely get the votes he needs, Wednesday’s proceedings will be watched closely for signs that Syriza has splintered further after the premier sacked dissenters in a cabinet “reshuffle” following last week’s vote in which 39 Syriza MPs refused to support the new bailout deal. That cut Tsipras support within the coalition government down to 123, meaning he is heavily dependent upon opposition support for the new program and as Reuters notes, there’s some speculation that if his support within the coalition drops below 120 votes, the PM would be forced to resign. Here’s more:
Together with his coalition partners from the right-wing Independent Greeks, Tsipras has 162 seats in the 300-seat parliament. But last week's rebellion cut his support to just 123 votes and any further defections may be seen as undermining prospects for reform.
Some government officials have suggested that if support dropped below 120 MPs - the minimum required to win a confidence vote if parliament voted with the lowest allowable quorum of 240 lawmakers - Tsipras would have to resign.
And here’s more color from Bloomberg:
The Greek leader is fighting for political survival after abandoning his opposition to austerity earlier this month with his country on the brink of financial collapse. He’s trying to hold off elections long enough to steer the country through the bailout negotiations, Michaelides said.
The plenary debate began at about 9 a.m. in Athens with the vote in the Greek parliament scheduled for around midnight. The bill under consideration includes the transposition of the European Union’s Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive into national law, as well as an overhaul of Code of Civil Procedure.
"There is a risk of the number of rebels growing," said Michael Michaelides, a fixed-income strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. "It will be a question of whether Tsipras can maintain the party under control to prevent unwanted political developments."
Yes, "unwanted political developments," like a vote of confidence which would be the first step towards early elections.
Although it seems likely that Tsipras would win a confidence vote if it came to that, the fact that the PM is reliant on opposition support to secure the bailout suggests that the political situation is simply untenable going forward. Deutsche Bank has more on the "unprecedented political configuration."
The agreement has come at a significant political cost to the Greek Prime Minister. Only 122 out of 149 SYRIZA MPs voted in favour of the prior actions in last week's vote, with legislative approval heavily reliant on 106 affirmative votes from opposition MPs. Notable negative votes included former finance minister Varoufakis, speaker of the house Konstantopoulou and five government ministers. This prompted a small cabinet re-shuffle over the weekend to replace dissenting ministers. Developments ahead need to be analysed against four broader observations relating to Greek politics.
The PM can no longer rely on his own parliamentary group to pass legislation, but despite this the government has legally not lost its parliamentary majority. A government change (and potential early elections) can constitutionally only be precipitated by a formal vote of confidence, but this has not taken place and many dissenting SYRIZA MPs have stated that they still support the government.
The Prime Minister may no longer control the SYRIZA party either. This is a separate entity from the party's parliamentary group, governed by a 201- strong Central Committee that has the power to call a vote of no confidence on party leader Tsipras as well as deciding on parliamentary candidates during general elections. A letter signed by more than 50% of the party's central committee last week expressed opposition to the Euro leaders’ agreement. The Committee has yet to convene following last week's parliamentary vote, though it may do so in coming days. The party’s official reaction to the agreement will need to be closely watched.
Today's vote is thus a litmus test for Syriza. That is, the key issue is whether the party splinters further or if some of those who broke with Tsipras last week return to the fold on Wednesday.
If Tsipras' support within the party weakens further, it will have broader implications for how the political landscape will look once the bailout is official. The PM is expected to call a party meeting in September to discuss "the day after" (a reference to the fact that by then, Greece is expected to have formalized the third bailout). At that juncture, Syriza "will split in two groups, the followers of Tsipras and the leftist wing led by Lafazanis," one unnamed source told MNI on Tuesday.
"The Syriza party must ... accept the social concerns and the expectations of the thousands of people that support us," Tsipras said ahead of the vote.
When it comes to "accepting the social concerns" of the party's constituents, one good place to start might have been respecting the referendum "no" vote.
Alas, that ship has sailed.
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revolution by morning??
No, Greeks are too busy drinking tea, smoking and waiting in ATM lines.
If the choice for Tsipras has boiled down to either agree to some kind of onerous bailout terms, or the utilities go offline very soon, then he is still a hero.
Yes, because without the Euro, the Greeks will go back to living in a cave and eating mud. Just like Switzerland & Denmark.
And Iceland.
Except they're eating frozen mud..
Great interview with Yanis Varoufakis before deal was reached on what it was like in those meetings. There was no negotiating. They refused to listen or concede on anything. The vote didn’t matter. Elections don’t matter. When he talks about the Eurogroup, he says "So what we have is a non-existent group that has the greatest power to determine the lives of Europeans. It’s not answerable to anyone, given it doesn’t exist in law; no minutes are kept; and it’s confidential. So no citizen ever knows what is said within. … These are decisions of almost life and death, and no member has to answer to anybody."
http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2015/07/yanis-varoufakis-full-transcript-our-battle-save-greece
I thought that this round of voting was supposed to include Pension Reforms, which seem to be noticeably absent?
It's amazing to watch the efficieny of parasites. Never quite killing their host.
How much negotiating do you really get to do when you're at the pawn shop? Greece is fucked, by their own hand, with the help of the banksters. They have some responsibility for making themselves debt slaves.
If we're lucky.
It's time for somebody to do something here.
The suspense is killing me.
Are you Greek? If you are, then you're scum. The only place for you right now is the street, even if by yourself. You have no excuses left to sit at home and wait. The lack of instantaneous violent revolution after such a flagrant disrespect for a referendum will not only cost Greece, it will cost the world for generations to come. Democracy might have never worked well, but it worked enough. Now it's dead and the Greeks are to be thanked for it each day they spend without hanging their leaders on the public street.
Are you Greek?
No.
Do you have a followup question.....or would you like to rant a little more?
It'll be the first time a revolution occur from the deputies, and not from the street.
They don't seem to be the type to rebel. It's too beautiful in Greece for that type of behavior.
Can someone please explain to me why Tsipras had no Plan B other than to go to Russia and China hat in hand begging for a handout?
There was a Plan B and Putin torpedoed it at the 11th hour. It would appear that Merkel made a lot of concessions to get that to happen. I look for the EU Sanctions on Russia to removed within a year. Leaving the US out in the cold concerning the sanctions.
A Plan B dependent upon one (or two) 'state' actor(s) is not a contingency plan. At best it is a change of plantation master.
When Greece's elite decides it is more interested in investing in the structural independence and integrity of their countrymen rather than playing with their similarly elite friends in Brussels, then there could be a plan B. But the elites (of all countries) are now more tightly bound to their status as global royalty than they are to their national identities.
Plan B suggests loyalty to one's nation. That is so 20th century!
Exactly, why would socialists vote to end socialism?
Socialism is never for the Socialists....
....I would have thought forming an alliance with the other axis of insolvency nations would have been a better bet........ but then where does that list end.... Print baby Print
The EU politicians have no plans, they do what they are told and play a bit show around it not to look too stupid. Why would you expect anything from bankster whore Tsipras?
I'm afraid we see only 5% of what is actually happening, e.g. the Greek army was not mentioned even once in the news.
Er, there was no Plan B or any serious efforts at its implementation because it was never the intention of Syriza to have a Grexit other than to use it as blackmail leverage to get more "free" dough from its creditors? Kind of blew up in Tsipras' face when Schauble, Merkel and the Baltic states, Finland in particular, called him on it and quite rudely told him to fuck off out of the Euro. Taking the shittiest bailout deal in Greek history made him look like a bankster's moll in the end.
Mind you to be fair, whatever Tsipras' real intentions, he was following the will of the majority of the Greeks and the Syriza election manifesto never explicitly made any mention of a Grexit. It may have been implied to the "extreme" left and right, but tacitly. It's going to happen sooner or later, so it was very silly of him not to have a more solid exit plan than playing the global mendicant and looking weak at the negotiation table.
Can someone please explain to me why Tsipras had no Plan B other than to go to Russia and China hat in hand begging for a handout? --- The million dollar question. I thought after he called for the referendum vote, for sure they had something planned.
This will end in a military coup. There will be no elections for at least a decade in Greece.
Disagree. Greek Miliatry is firmly in the hands of TBTB. If the Greek military switched sides, and did execute said coup -- the Western Media would take all of two seconds before labeling them "Russia-Chinese-ISIS backed terrorists," and we'd drop thousands of tons of American Exceptionalism on them to "liberate" the Greek people from their oppressors.
At that point we would have, at one point & time bombed or gone to war against every single country that touches the Med -- save Malta.
I catch what you're laying down, HT. Attack Malta!
Oh, we haven't forgotten about the Maltese. Freedom-hating bastards.
Here's a novel approach .... the prime beneficiaries .... of the easy Euro loans .... (government inc.) .... should give the most back ?
Putin's response to Tsipras handout request: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrO5J7TdS7c
tsipas is cornered by the situation. He is not the leader with enough moxy to bring fwd a plan b. plan b is choas imho...
ie deer in headlights syndrom
He had many months to put together a viable Plan B including scraping the bottom of the barrel and checking the seat cushions for the funding. This is/was not a man who wished to work for the greater good of Greece as much as he wished to continue to 'lead' long after the fact.
When the self interests of the leader(s) intersect with the interests of the people, rarely are the people's interests put forward with the same energy and zeal.
Sad. So sad.....and a dress rehearsal for nearly every other "Developed Market' country over the coming 3-5 years.
Only one thing left for the Greek people at this point. Toga party.
Great......double secret probation....then what?
Moar party?
guns and roses?
lter-where have you been hiding?
Still around, just busy and a little fried on ZH. I think I hit the 4 year member wall!
the doom and gloom does take a toll on the mental attitude. but then again we need a reality check every now and then. we all be waiting for the swan that just doen't arrive and quite frankly i hope it doesn't, but also the course we are on is depressing. i'm living the dream 52k/year and feeling the squeeze. i fit the deomgraphics to a tee. ha...
"the doom and gloom does take a toll on the mental attitude."
Seriously. I think sometimes it's healthy to plug back into the matrix for a little bit, especially since by all indications this is going to be a very long, painful process and not a sudden collapse as many predicted after '08/'09. But like you say, most of us here are feelin' the squeeze already, bit by bit.
Ahem..
I think I hit the 4 year member wall!
Just say "since Lehman".....and they'll reset you at 5 years like they did for me....it was free and fairly painless.
It's almost like being a virgin again.
what does it cost to bribe all the greek pols? tsipras sold out for too little now his party pols think they can get bigger bribes if they slow this all down..they are right.
They must literally have a gun to his head, I mean when you are already at the threshold of hell what other kind of threats can work on you? Still think the Greeks are not thinking very clearly or strategically, coalition within Greece is of limited value but an expanded coalition of all the "profligate idiot" nations of the EU would surely trip the Brussels circuit breakers........ and here by morning.....
this is your government on a debt binge movie is shown to all western pols..at the end the titanic is sinking and they are shown the life boat reserved for those that play along and their family..how could they refuse?
too bad for the ave citizen you are on your own..oh billionaires see this film at davos and bilderberger meeting, they are building their own lifeboats- greek islands look good here.
Tylers: Will you please STOP calling it a "bailout"!! It is no such thing. The crooks are 'lending' Greece money to pay interest on borrowed money, and adding the loaned amount to principal. it is only letting Greece dig themselves deeper into the hole. You (Tylers) of all peoples.
True. A proper Merican style bank bailout would go something like this. The Greeks would receive 500 billion in loans. The EU countries would then promise to pay 1,000 Euro per olive for 30 years. The Greeks would be suddenly flush with "earned" money and pay back the loans with interest. The Greeks would then act like smug douchebags in every interview and recant the magical way that they repaid the debts through hard work and superior business acumen. Now that's a motherfucking bailout!
Good lord, just stick a fork in it already! Dragging this shit show out way,way to long.
They shoot horses.....don't they?
Good for broken down politicians as well.
Long Knacker yards.
Well Kerry seems to have escaped that fate despite breaking a leg.
No big secrets here! A knacker is "a person who buys animal carcasses or slaughters useless livestock for a knackery or rendering works" (plus some related other meanings). Horses with broken legs would go to the knacker.
Now at least things will be crystal clear: The left part of Syriza will clearly endorse the political outcome of a Grexit.
So if they get elected, it'll be the beginning of a new something.
Thats the trouble now, People will except any crap given to them. Where are the Fighters for Freedom from yesteryears?
Instead of game theory they need to be doing a bit of SWOT analysis because the days, weeks, months and years ahead require dedication, sacrifice, unity, vision and a great deal of hard work and change.
Is it any wonder that Putin did not chip in with 10 billion? He knows a bottomless pit when he sees one and the sucking sound at the edge of the pit was enough for him to wait for further developments.
Re "Only 122 out of 149 SYRIZA MPs voted in favour of the prior actions in last week's vote, with legislative approval heavily reliant on 106 affirmative votes from opposition MPs." OK, then, how many of them brought up and voted on a law to fix their broken taxation system, so that their federal budget could be balanced? Zero? They can't have it both ways: Either they fix their taxation system, balance thebudget or let foreigners tell them how often they can change their underwear.
Voting.....why the hell didn't I think about that?
They should do that.
We'll send Diebold over there.....I think they'll be pleased with the results.
It will be like the first vote. These Greek politicians will put on a show, they will point their fingers, they will curse, they will threaten, they will say they are all against these austerity measures....and this will go on and on into the night, and at the moment when they have to vote....they will like last time past the measures, last time it was over 70%, it will be the same.
These Greeks haven't got the guts to vote against the measures, for it they did, they would have to for the first time in their miserable useless lives have to really start working, and start showing real leadership by exiting the EU and go on it on their own. There isn't enough Greeks in all Greece who have the courage or the brains to run a country. So they will put on their stupid show, and then like miserable snivelling cowards say yes yes yes.
The same will be when it comes to the pension reforem vote next month. OH! How they are going to to put on a show there! That will be one hell of a show! But they will in the end, pass the reforms.
Let them go through their protestations, just treat them like spoiled brats! Cause that's exactly what they are...a nation of spoiled brats!
We all know that Greece is headed for the windshield like the proverbial moth, so the only question is what form and intensity will the resultant chaos take.
We are all experiencing paralysis by analysis on the topic of Greece while Greece will eventually go on dialysis.
Speaking of windshields, looks like gold just took another 15 dollar dump...
OK, OK! Don't shoot the messenger...
Back to killin' snakes
Gold will be the only thing of any value after this crap show ends.....so of course they have to kill it.
At least they're doing something.
When a plane is nosediving towards the ground does anyone really care what price they paid for their parachute?
Stick with gold. It's backed by over 5000 years of references. The current crop of politicians and bankers are just hemaroids of history.
The one thing a union of independent states manages to do is kill most independence minded tendencies and replaces it with group think.
Independent thought is repressed and individualism is replaced with a hive mentality which explains why it has become so easy for pols to control their constituents rather than the other way around.
The Greek parliament is going to pass each and every one of these measures. It's a done deal. Syriza is now an irrelevant party. Even if the Greeks have SNAP elections this fall, it won't change anything. The only way there will be a Grexit is if the Greek people revolt, which won't happen because they are addicted to the German teet.
The mental waterboarding was difficult during the meeting of Europes unelected elite. Tsipras thought long and hard about the history of Greece and its people, even before the time of democracy.
Decision made, he dropped his pants and bent forward.
The solution is obvious. Set the retirement ate to 40. That would divide those working and those sucking the teat into a 60/40 split. 60% sucking. That way all the divide and conquer bankers can threaten to dry up the teat and wham instant falling in line of the majority.
"The Greek parliament will vote on a second batch of prior actions on Wednesday including EU rules on bank resolutions..."
There you have it. Bank resolutions are "bail-ins". No wonder we read yesterday that banks were asking customers to bring their money back into the banks.
Exactly. There are reports that banks are even refusing early repayments of loans as this will reduce the amount that can be haircutted.
Banksters are circling personal bank accounts like vultures.
Bail-up
I think they seriously overestimated their ability to negotiate a first class seat on the Euro gravytrain.
Now they're riding on the top of the train and it looks like a hard rains gonna fall.
They'll vote a paycheck.
The people can vote whatever they want because it doesn't matter.
A vote of "You are a sellout and a big pussy" will probably also pass with al large majority.
Well good luck with getting rid of the socialists, I hardly can keep my breath.
Okay let's see.
A) They start this "European Union".
B) The member countries go broke for the first time (except for Germany).
C) Hmm.