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Alex Tsipras Thanassis Stavrakis

Greece latest: Tough new reforms passed in marathon late-night session

Relief for Alexis Tsipras – but he’s had to endure another major rebellion from his own party.

GREECE’S PARLIAMENT HAS passed legislation on a second batch of reforms needed to help unlock a huge international bailout for the country’s stricken economy.

The bill passed by a resounding 230 votes out of the 298 members of parliament present, after a marathon debate stretching into the early hours that nonetheless exposed deep divisions in the governing Syriza party.

The legislation covers changes to the civil justice system, a bank deposit protection scheme and measures to shore up the liquidity of Greece’s banks — reforms that had to pass if Athens was to move forward in bailout negotiations with its creditors.

While the new law will come as a relief to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras — who is negotiating a new bailout worth up to €86 billion euros over three years — it saw him suffer a major rebellion amongst MPs in his leftist Syriza party for the second time in a week.

The vote was seen as a key test of Tsipras’ authority after he was forced to reshuffle his cabinet following a mutiny by nearly a fifth of his MPs in a separate vote on the first tranche of tough economic reforms demanded by Athens’ creditors.

While the prime minister trimmed the rebellion from 39 ‘no’ votes and abstentions last week to 36, in both cases he was forced to rely on opposition parties to get the legislation passed.

Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili admitted the government was facing a “political problem” and said “planned procedures” would be implemented to address it.

“The divide in the parliamentary majority is clear,” she told reporters after the vote.

- ‘Pain doesn’t stop here’ - 

While Tsipras is riding high in the opinion polls personally, analysts believe the deep divisions within Syriza are likely to force the government to call early elections after being voted into power at the beginning of the year.

The tough reform package sparked five hours of fiery debate last night, with weary lawmakers clashing on everything from Marxism to submarines as dawn neared, and the speaker of parliament comparing the bailout deal to “a coup”.

In a passionate speech to the chamber, Tsipras insisted the deal was the result of a “difficult compromise” with Greece’s paymasters — the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund — necessary to prevent Greece from tumbling out of the eurozone.

The premier, who blazed to power in January promising to end austerity, warned that Greece had to adapt to “the new realities” of the bailout agreement.

“The painful path does not stop here, unfortunately,” he said.

“We have been forced to make a difficult compromise under urgent conditions. We were at the limits of our economy and our banking system, and at the limits of Europe — where conservative forces, obsessed with austerity, dominate,” he added.

Greece Bailout Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and his predecessor Yanis Varoufakis Associated Press Associated Press

Some 6,000 anti-austerity demonstrators had protested near parliament ahead of last night’s debate, lobbing a handful of petrol bombs in the direction of the police, who had thrown up a ring of steel around the building after riots during last week’s vote on austerity measures.

Katerina and George Sergidou Kokkinavis, two Syriza members in their thirties taking part in the protest, said they had come because “the government is no longer listening to the people”.

- ‘We will not be cowards’ -

Ahead of the vote, Vassiliki Georgiadis, a political science professor at Athens’ Panteion University, said it would be “difficult” for Tsipras’s Syriza-led coalition to remain in power if he is forced to rely on opposition MPs to get laws passed.

She said the split within Syriza was between hard-left MPs — “some of whom have spoken of a Greek exit from the eurozone as the only solution” — and those more sympathetic to Tsipras’s arguments.

Tsipras was forced to reshuffle his cabinet last week, having sacked three ministers for voting against the first bailout bill.

Government spokeswoman Gerovassili previously said the administration had “no intention” of calling early polls, and Tsipras told parliament that he would keep fighting for Greece’s best interests, adding he would not “voluntarily abandon” the job.

“The left’s presence in government is a bastion for the defence of the interests of the people,” he said.

“We will not be cowards. We will fight the battles we face with determination.”

Gerovassili said negotiations with Greece’s creditors would resume immediately after this morning’s vote.

The EU’s Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said they were aiming to finalise the deal by mid-August.

Both sides are under huge pressure to finalise the terms of the rescue before August 20, when Greece owes the ECB a loan repayment of €3.2 billion it cannot afford.

© AFP, 2015

Read: Greek banks reopen as citizens face massive price hikes

Read: Homeless in Athens: ‘Greece never dies. But the Greeks will die.’

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70 Comments
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    Mute Declan Byrne
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    Nov 13th 2014, 5:16 PM

    Fantastic news hopefully they will succeed and makes this awful disease disappear.

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    Mute Declan Byrne
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    Nov 13th 2014, 5:17 PM

    Apologies a few phone typos made above.

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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Nov 13th 2014, 5:56 PM

    Great news. There weren’t any typos above.

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    Mute Pat O'Brien
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    Nov 13th 2014, 5:54 PM

    God I hope they come up with a cure quick. My family obviously carry this gene and it’s a tough illness to leave with. I’m probably a carrier of the gene so any developments are welcomed by me and my family even though it may be too little to late for some of them.

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    Mute Thomas O'Connor
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    Nov 13th 2014, 6:18 PM

    Bit self involved there. The breakthroughs are welcomed by your family cos you’ve a chance of getting it. Right… I welcome all breakthroughs in finding cures for horrible diseases, even if I’ve no chance of getting said disease.

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    Mute Pat O'Brien
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    Nov 13th 2014, 6:51 PM

    Not at all I’d happily welcome a cure for idiocy I just don’t see it coming anytime soon. Do you Tom?

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    Mute FMan
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    Nov 13th 2014, 6:56 PM

    Ouch

    29
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    Mute Barry Healy
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    Nov 13th 2014, 7:19 PM

    Thomas you’re a great man, so full of humanity. Good on ya for welcoming all such breakthroughs equally. Feck pat and his family who could be living with a death sentence and the chance of living in misery for years because his first reaction would be how much this could help them because that’s just selfish and self serving. What a b*stard that he should first think of his loved ones when news of a possible breakthrough that could lead to help for them is released.

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    Mute Catherine Mayock
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    Nov 13th 2014, 11:18 PM

    Tom who said you have no chance of getting it. My in law got it in his 80s. So never say never. And why would you begruge any famiy the chance of a cure. I am disgusted by your small mindlessness.

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    Mute Kane Abel
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    Nov 14th 2014, 10:32 PM

    Thomas some families are predisposed towards certain illnesses, someday you’ll grow up and be less of an uncontrollable knob and though you’ll probably never be a man you may mature enough to regret making such ignorant comments in public and letting yourself down so badly….

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    Mute Joan Featherstone
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    Nov 13th 2014, 8:45 PM

    Brilliant news…my almost 90 yrs old mum has Parkinson’s, lives alone, out everyday….won’t be any use to her poor love, but hopefully to others in the future….you are brilliant people and all the wonderful research you do.

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    Mute Butter bean
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    Nov 13th 2014, 5:30 PM

    Its news when there is a cure.This is just a PR exercise for more funding.
    I find these articles incredibly frustrating,ten years from now there will still be no cure for this awful affliction.

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    Mute Ivon Itchie Saq
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    Nov 13th 2014, 5:35 PM

    Probably best that they don’t publicise this and any other break through’s cause they don’t need the funding to continue research

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    Mute Elizabeth Gibson
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    Nov 13th 2014, 6:20 PM

    Ten years from now they would definitely be no closer to a cute if they don’t get any funding, as far as i am concerned they can run down the street naked shouting eureka if it gets them the funding they need to research this further and hopefully make a breakthrough

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    Mute Elizabeth Gibson
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    Nov 13th 2014, 6:20 PM

    *cute = cure

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    Mute Kane Abel
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    Nov 14th 2014, 10:36 PM

    What have you ever done for society butter bean?

    - If I was gambling man I’d bet you take a whole pile more than you give…..

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    Mute Butter bean
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    Nov 13th 2014, 5:45 PM

    If their work is good enough they will get funding without the publicity stunts, getting peoples hopes up and then nothing is pretty low.

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    Mute Barry Healy
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    Nov 13th 2014, 7:12 PM

    They published it in a research journal and the media have picked up on it. Publishing in journals is an essential part of scientific research and enables their work to be built upon by other scientists who may use it to follow other avenues of enquiry. Should they just keep it to themselves so the scientific community don’t know what they’re doing, can’t verify what they’re doing and may waste money doing the exact same research not knowing it’s already been done? And if a media outlet should pick up on this study and ask for comment by the scientists in question should they just refuse? And so what if they make comments about funding being essential, it is! It’s not as if these guys earn fat paycheques doing this work. It’s often quite low paid stuff for the expertise involved. Scientists carrying out research are constantly fighting for funding from wherever they can get it so why shouldn’t he take a pop at the availability of funding? And who’s hope are they getting up? They explicitly state it won’t directly lead to a cure but perhaps enable advancements towards a cure. If he hadn’t made the comment about needing continued funding would your boxers still be twisted or what? If these guys were to turn around and win a Nobel prize for this would you be b*tching about it then or be congratulating them for being the pride of the country? Some people’s default setting is to moan. It’s ridiculous.

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    Mute FMan
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    Nov 13th 2014, 7:28 PM

    If it is a greater understand of how aggregates of misfolded proteins occur and proves to be right that is significant. I believe the theory up to now was that misfolded proteins acted on neighbouring protein which were correctly folded to misfolded. That would be much more difficult to control than a damaged gene producing the mutated protein. It at least gives a starting point for a cure.

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    Mute Raymond Natasha
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