Greek parliament votes for austerity in bailout deal

Greek protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at police in front of parliament on Wednesday before the key vote on the bailout deal.

Police responded with tear gas, sending hundreds of people fleeing in central Athens.

The clashes were brief and calm soon returned to the square, with a few hundred protesters staying on under heavy police cotrol.

Later on Wednesday evening Greek lawmakers passed a bailout agreement that keeps the country in the euro, shifting attention to the European Central Bank as it weighs up whether to pump more money into the country’s financial system.

With debate and voting finishing in the early hours of Thursday, a majority the 300-seat parliament approved new austerity measures that are a precondition of €86 billion in aid.

Members of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza were among those who opposed the bill, a sign the premier is at risk of losing his majority.

The vote puts the onus on the ECB and other euro-region governments to put in place more emergency funds that will help Greek banks re-open.

The ECB’s Governing Council meets in Frankfurt later on Thursday and Germany’s parliament will vote on Friday on whether to start bailout negotiations to help Greece cover its debts and pay the country's pensions and salaries.

Accepting the agreement with creditors “was a decision which will be a burden for me for the rest of my life,” Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told lawmakers at the start of the debate. “I don’t know if we did the right thing. But I know we did something to which there was no alternative.”

Finding a way to open banks and allow normal commerce to resume will be the Greek government’s first priority. The ECB plans to make a decision Thursday on whether to increase the level of so-called emergency liquidity assistance it provides to Greek lenders.

Greece also needs to secure bridge financing to cover immediate needs, which include making a €3.5 billion payment to the ECB that is due on July 20th.

The European Union proposed a facility worth €7 billion to tide the country over until implementation of the full bailout begins. Euro-area finance ministers are due to hold a conference call on Thursday morning.

Europe’s most indebted country came closer than ever to being forced out of the euro this month after Tsipras stunned euro-area leaders by calling a referendum on spending cuts and tax rises demanded by creditors.

Despite a clear majority of Greeks voting “no,” he was forced to capitulate to an even more onerous package that political chiefs said was the only way for Greece to remain in the euro.

Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister who clashed with Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble was among the members of Syriza’s parliamentary caucus who refused to support the deal. The level of opposition suggests Tsipras may now be forced to rule with a minority government, relying on opposition lawmakers to pass legislation.

Tsipras was elected in January pledging to end austerity and forge a new deal with creditors. He did not speak in support of the bailout bill in parliament. In a Tuesday television interview, he said he’d agreed to the deal “with a knife at my neck.”

Bloomberg/Reuters

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