It’s been a hard sell for Alexis Tsipras to push the bailout reform conditions on the people, many of whom say they feel betrayed by a leader who originally campaigned as the anti-austerity candidate [Xinhua]
Protesters briefly clashed with riot police in the Greek capital Athens as legislators in Parliament debated – and passed – a new set of stringent austerity measures that would encourage European lenders to provide Greece with funds to meet its debt obligations.
The new measures which were debated over a period of two days in Parliament include increasing taxes to middle and high level income earners and making cuts across the board that would save about three per cent of Greece’s GDP.
The reforms also include removing value-added-tax discounts, cutting pensions and increasing deregulation.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for calm on the streets but also defended the austerity package saying it fell in line with the agreement reached with the EU last year.
The EU and European creditors had demanded that Greece reform its economic policies ahead of any loan.
Greece is due to pay billions of dollars to the European Central Bank in July.
The austerity measures passed by the Greek Parliament on Monday come hours before a meeting of the eurogroup which consists of 19 Finance Ministers of the Eurozone.
When they meet on Monday they will review Greece’s progress in reforming its economic policies, and will for the first time likely begin to discuss debt relief for the embattled country.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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