Greek MPs vote on multi-bill of 48 prior actions: 153 in favor, 137 against

The multi-bill on the 48 prior actions Greece needs to implement in order to receive a 2 billion subtranche benchmarked for Greece was passed in Parliament by 290 lawmakers on Thursday evening with the 153 votes of the coalition government of the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) and junior member Independent Greeks (ANEL). The rest of the parties voted for the bill in principle with 137 votes.

The bill, passed through in fast-track procedures and patched up with various measures and counter-measures until the eleventh hour,  will facilitate tens of thousands of foreclosures and will reduce the level of protection even for primary residences – something resisted by successive Greek administrations since 2010.

Dissenters

Former Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis, a close friend of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, resigned earlier on Thursday from his post of MP after it became known that he would rather abstain rather than vote for a new austerity bill required prior to the approval of Greece’s first tranche of the 86 billion euros agreed in July. In a letter of resignation he noted that it was for him “impossible to contribute to the implementation of government policy.”

MP Stathis Panagoulis was also expelled from the SYRIZA party after abstaining from the vote.

Another defection was by MP Nikos Nikolopoulos, from right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL) that is a junior partner in the coalition with SYRIZA. In an announcement after the voting he was written off the party.