MILAN – This time the greek Minister of Finance, Euclid Tsakalotos, will not occur in Bruxelle empty handed. What’s more, after months of negotiations that culminated in the referendum on Sunday rejected the proposals of the international creditors and caused the resignation of Yanis Varoufakis, an agreement between Greece and international partners is really possible. The reform plan of the greek government was, in fact, a positive assessment by the creditors and the night got the approval of the Parliament in Athens. Even if as expected he lost his way a part of his majority, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras can then go and negotiate an agreement that avoids the exit of Greece from the euro. The word now passes to the Eurogroup, which meets in the afternoon, and EU leaders, who will meet tomorrow evening in Brussels for the decisive meeting.
The vote in Athens. In favor of the motion which mandates the executive for negotiation on the basis of the plan have voted 251 deputies out of 300, the no were 32, eight abstentions. With no glaring defections of members of Syriza: all eight abstentions belong to the party of the prime minister, two of its representatives have spoken out against and seven were not in the Chamber. In total 17 deputies of SYRIZA on 149 have expressed their dissent. And it’s big guns, like former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, officially absent for family reasons, or the chairman of Zoe Constantopoulou and Energy Minister and leader of the left wing of the party Panagiotis Lafazanis, who They limited themselves to answer “present” at the time of voting, in fact abstaining. They voted against the motion compact 13 deputies of the nationalist right of Anel, which also is part of the government majority. In favor were cast instead at least 100 members of the opposition: the majority of centrist pro European To Potami (that has 17 MPs) but also many of the center of Nea Dimokratia (76) and the socialist Pasok (13). A framework that puts in Tsipras a serious political problem for the implementation of any agreement with creditors.
The speech of Tsipras. The proposals presented to the creditors are “distant “the promises made during the election campaign by SYRIZA, Tsipras admitted giving something radical wing of his party and that part of the public that tonight took to the streets in Athens to reaffirm their” no “to austerity. The plan contains measures that the government was forced to take, but it is “the best possible” definitely “better than the one presented to us as ultimatum”, continued the Prime Minister. And to mend the breach with the dissidents of Syriza strongly he defended the reform package, after acknowledging that he had made mistakes in the six months that led the deal: “I have not asked for a ‘no’ in the referendum to exit the ‘ euro but to strengthen the negotiations. I did as much as humanly possible in difficult circumstances. We have reached the threshold, from now on in front of us it stretches a minefield. ” “I’m not selling off Greece,” he assured noting that tax increases and spending cuts are undoubtedly painful but will serve to stay in the country in the euro area and that “for the first time on the table there is a substantive discussion on restructuring debt “. Finally, he appealed to a vote of “national responsibility” for “keeping alive the people greek”.
After the vote, the greek prime minister expressed his satisfaction with the fact that it has received “a strong mandate to complete the negotiations and get a deal economically viable and socially equitable.” He did not mention the 17 “rebels” of his party, but he made an implicit reference when he said that “the priority now is to get a positive result from the negotiations. Everything else in his time”.
Towards bailout 74 billion. While the Parliament in Athens discussed the plan from Brussels emerged the “positive” judgment creditors on Greek proposals, considered “a basis for negotiation” in view of a new rescue plan (third in 2010) worth 74 billion euro, (58 and 16 by the ESM from the International Monetary Fund), a higher figure than the 53 and a half billion requested by Greece. A good omen ahead of the crucial meeting of the Euro which will take place in the afternoon, the hope of an agreement to avoid the exit of Greece from the euro. The three institutions, according to EU sources, were “positively surprised” by the document passed in the night between Thursday and Friday from Athens, containing measures “very similar to those proposed by the Commission” Europe in late June and shot down by Greek voters in the referendum last Sunday.
On the Athens have sided France, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, the “friends” of Greece. Even the hawk, but the mediator, President of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem is satisfied after reading the commitments of the Greek government. But from Berlin comes a deafening silence, which is broken only to curb the enthusiasm of those who, like the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, hoped that an agreement today Eurogroup did not lessen the need for the EU summit on Sunday: “The summit will still necessary, even if you were to reach an agreement “, he ended the German government spokesman.
No comments:
Post a Comment