Io Chokona / Athens, July 22 () - The Greek Parliament today is set to vote a second austerity bill, prepared after the agreement with the creditors early this month, seen as a "crash test" for the Syriza government.
The draft legislation includes a second batch of measures that must pass if it is to receive its 86 billion dollars new credit. Lawmakers are due to vote on the measures later today, in a fresh test of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ authority, after he suffered a major rebellion in his Syriza party during a vote on a first tranche of credit measures on July 15.
Today's bill includes an EU directive, adopted after the financial crisis in Greek Cyprus in 2013, that guarantees bank deposits up to 100,000 euros, as well as civil justice reforms designed to speed up legal proceedings and reduce their costs.
The Greek government, led by the Syriza party, agreed last week to carry out tough reforms in exchange for a three-year credit of up to 86 billion euros aimed at keeping Greece from crashing out of the Eurozone.
Tsipras managed to push a series of unpopular reforms through parliament last Wednesday, including sweeping changes to Greece’s taxes, pensions and labor rules, but only with the help of pro-European opposition parties.
Within Syriza, 32 of the party’s 149 MPs voted against the measures, and a further six abstained. Syriza leaders expect today's "no" votes within the government to be below the 32 "no" votes of the first debate.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reshuffled his cabinet on July 17 to fill the vacancies left by three members who were sacked after voting against the first batch of reforms.
