ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced a revolt in his left-wing party and workers’ calls for strikes ahead of Wednesday’s Parliament vote on a bailout deal meant to prevent the country’s economy from collapsing.
Now Tsipras must keep his own government from collapsing as he tries to push a deal that he calls “irrational” through Parliament. Talks on a bailout worth 85 billion euros ($94 billion) will start if Parliament agrees by Wednesday to creditors’ demands, including painful tax hikes and pension cuts.
Hard-liners in Tsipras’ own Cabinet and his radical leftist Syriza party are in open revolt. Unions are calling for or extending strikes to coincide with the Parliament vote.
After a stunning win in a referendum that rejected calls for more austerity, Tsipras remained in a bind this week as he reached a deal with creditors: Greece’s cash-starved banks would likely have collapsed, sending the country spiraling out of the euro, Europe’s joint currency. So after a marathon eurozone summit, Tsipras agreed to tough new measures that mean economically-battered Greeks will pay more for most goods and services by the end of the week.
The bill is expected to pass with votes from opposition parties. But the Tsipras government’s political survival could be in danger if large numbers of its own lawmakers resign their seats or openly vote against the bill. Many in Tsipras’ party have indicated they will refuse to vote for the deal because it goes back on election pledges to repeal austerity measures that have been imposed on Greece for years.