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ATHENS. — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sought his party’s backing for a harsh new austerity package yesterday to keep his country in the euro — less than a week after urging Greeks to reject milder cuts in a referendum.
Government ministers signed off on the sweeping new measures — likely to extend the recession after six years of painful decline — that include pension cuts and tax hikes. In exchange, Greece wants a three-year financial support programme worth nearly $60 billion and some form of debt relief.
The measures were sent to rescue creditors who will meet this weekend to decide whether to approve them. The proposed new bailout would be Greece’s third since it lost access to financing from bond markets in 2010. In an unusual procedure, Tsipras is first seeking authorisation from parliament to negotiate with the creditors based on the proposal in a vote yesterday. He was essentially asking his Syriza party to sign off on the U-turn despite more than 60 percent of voters opposing more austerity in the July 5 referendum.
Tsipras was convening his party’s lawmakers for discussions yesterday morning before the parliamentary debate.
The coalition government has 162 seats in the 300-member parliament and pledged backing on a deal from a large section of opposition lawmakers. But failure to deliver votes from his own government would likely topple his coalition.
The proposals are to be discussed by eurozone finance ministers today, ahead of a summit of the European Union’s 28 leaders tomorrow.— AP/Huffington Post.
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