Greek lawmakers pass austerity bill despite dissent Thursday July 16,2015

Greek Parliament Approves Austerity Bill Demanded By Bailout Creditors

Greek lawmakers voted overwhelmingly early Thursday July 16,2015 to approve a harsh austerity bill demanded by bailout creditors, despite significant dissent from members of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' own left-wing party.

The legislation was approved with 229 votes in favor, 64 against and 6 abstentions — and won the support of three pro-European opposition parties.

Among Syriza's 38 dissenters were prominent party members including -

Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis

who many blame for exacerbating tensions with Greece's creditors with his abrasive style during five months of tortured negotiations.

The bill, which imposes sweeping tax hikes and spending cuts, fueled anger in the governing Syriza party and led to a revolt against Tsipras, who has insisted the deal forged after a marathon weekend eurozone summit was the best he could do to prevent Greece from catastrophically crashing out of the euro, Europe's joint currency

The post-midnight vote might not pose an immediate threat to Tsipras' government, but it raised more doubts over whether it could implement the harsh new austerity program demanded by rescue lenders.

The vote came after an anti-austerity demonstration by about 12,000 protesters outside parliament degenerated into violence as the debate was getting underway Wednesday night July 15,2015

  

Riot police battled youths who hurled petrol bombs for about an hour before the clashes died down.

Dissenters argued that Greeks could not face any further cuts after six years of recession that saw poverty and unemployment skyrocket and wiped out a quarter of the country's economy.

Prime Minister AlexisTsipras has been battling all week to persuade party hard-liners to back the deal. He has acknowledged the agreement reached with creditors was far from what he wanted and trampled on his pre-election promises of repealing austerity, but insisted the alternative would have been far worse for the country.

"We had a very specific choice: A deal we largely disagreed with, or a chaotic default," he told parliament ahead of the vote.

Thursday's vote came after more than two weeks of capital controls, with Greek banks and the stock exchange shut since June 29 and ATM cash withdrawals limited to 60 euros per day

The bill was the first step Greece must take in order to begin negotiations with creditors on a new bailout — its third in five years — of about 85 billion euros ($93 billion) in loans over three years.

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, right, and Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos attend a parliament meeting in Athens, Thursday, July 16, 2015.