Greek parliament to vote on social reform bills Friday [Update]
Greece is going ahead with reform measures in defiance of its bailout obligations, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras calling Tuesday for parliament to vote on a series of social reform bills at the end of the week.
The vote is scheduled to take place Friday, the same day as a controversial deadline imposed by Greece’s eurozone partners at talks that collapsed in Brussels on Monday.
“We will not succumb to psychological blackmail,” Tsipras said following a dramatic showdown in Brussels which saw his finance minister reject a deal which hinged on an extension to the country’s bailout program.
As a meeting of eurozone finance ministers broke up without an agreement, Brussels told Athens it must agree to extend its massive bailout by the end of the week or face a possible exit from the eurozone.
Tsipras said Wolfgang Schaeuble had “lost his cool” ahead of the meeting, after the German finance minister said he felt “sorry for the Greeks.”
“With great respect and in friendship, I would like to tell him he should feel sorry for people walking with their heads bowed,” Tsipras said in reference to Greece’s refusal to bow to Germany on austerity.
The social bills will tackle the “humanitarian crisis caused by the mistakes in the bailout recipe,’ he said.
“This is the debt we must repay first. We will not betray the Greek people’s confidence.”
[AFP]
