Tsipras calls for Greek parliament to urgently debate Cyprus tax
SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has asked Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to call an emergency meeting of Parliament in Athens to discuss events in Cyprus.
The request was initially made by the leftists on Monday, a public holiday in Greece, but rejected by parliamentary speaker Evangelos Meimarakis.
SYRIZA accused Samaras of being “afraid of Parliament, afraid of people, afraid of light.”
Making a brief televised address on Tuesday, Tsipras repeated the request for a parliamentary debate on the consequences of the deposit tax proposed in Cyprus.
The SYRIZA leader labelled the measure “colonial” and said Cyprus’s refusal to approve it so far showed that there was room for bailout countries to engage in tougher negotiations with their lenders.