The Greek parliament has approved the proposal Alexis Tsipras submitted to creditors on Thursday. The ball is now in Europe's court with a Eurogroup meeting scheduled for Saturday.
- GREEK LAWMAKERS APPROVE GOVERNMENT'S BAILOUT PROPOSAL: TALLY
As expected, Energy Minister and Left Platform leader Panagiotis Lafazanis voted against the proposal as did Parliament speaker Zoi Konstantopoulou and Deputy Minister of Social Security Dimitris Stratoulis.
If new FinMin Euclid Tsakalotos can secure the support of his EU counterparts tomorrow, the path will be cleared for Greece to remain in the EU under a new program.
- GREEK PM TSIPRAS SAYS GOVT AVERTING A POLITICAL GREXIT
- GREEK PM TSIPRAS SAYS PEOPLE DIDN'T GIVE GOVT RUPTURE MANDATE
- TSIPRAS: AGREEMENT WITH CREDITORS ISN'T CERTAIN, JUST POSSIBLE
- CREDITORS MAKE POSITIVE EVALUATION OF GREEK DEBT PROPOSALS: AP
- TSIPRAS: GREECE WILL MANAGE TO STAY IN EU, AS EQUAL PARTNER
- GREECE BAILOUT TO BE 74B EUROS BASED ON CREDITORS' EVAL: AFP
It remains to be seen how Greeks will respond to the decision. Given the similarities between the "new" proposal and the proposal that 61% of Greeks voted against last Sunday, there may well be pushback from voters and a generalized sense of betrayal among Syriza's core constituency.
Underscoring the contentious nature of the vote is the following from Bloomberg:
Fifteen governing Syriza party lawmakers who voted “yes” in parliament vote on Greek govt’s bailout proposals to creditors say they oppose the plan, according to statement distributed to journalists.
Lawmakers say proposal shouldn’t have been approved by Greek parliament; they backed it only because they didn’t want the govt’s parliamentary majority to be put into question.
Lawmakers say their “yes” vote shouldn’t be interpreted as acceptance of implementation of austerity measures.
