Greek MPs pass bailout reforms amid further protests
Following a fear of rebellious votes, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was easily able to pass bailout measures with 230 votes in favour, 63 against and five abstentions.
Last week Greece passed an initial set of austerity measures as imposed by external creditors, to protests from members of the Greek public.
This second set of measures passed early on this (Thursday 23rd) morning include: a code of civil protection aimed at speeding up court cases, to protect savers' deposits of less than €100,000, and the introduction of rules that would see bank shareholders and creditors – instead of taxpayers - cover costs of a failed bank
Just a day ago, the European Central Bank (ECB) gave a further €900 million (£630 million) to Greece, its second offering in a week. The IMF confirmed earlier in the week that Greece had cleared its overdue payment – the country accomplished this using a short term EU loan of €7.16 billion.
The country’s saga is not over now, as Greece now must pay €3.2 billion owed to the ECB by August 20th, and a payment of €1.5 billion to the IMF in September.
