Greek parliament approves third prior actions bill with 153 ‘Yes’ votes
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The government’s omnibus bill on prior actions was approved by the Greek parliament on Thursday evening with 153 votes in favour and 137 votes against the legislation.
The bill will unlock the disbursement of the 2-billion-euro sub-tranche of Greece’s loan as well as the 10 billion euros for the recapitalization of the country’s lenders.
In total, 290 lawmakers participated in the roll call vote with SYRIZA and ANEL voting ‘Yes’. All the opposition parties voted against the bill in principle, while New Democracy, Golden Dawn and the Centrists’ Union also voted against all the articles.
Two lawmakers from the government coalition who voted against the bill were expelled from their parties’ parliamentary groups. In a letter sent to parliament president Nikos Voutsis, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said party lawmaker Stathis Panagoulis is expelled from SYRIZA’s parliamentary group, while in a separate letter, ANEL leader Panos Kammenos expelled party MP Nikos Nikolopoulos.
Moscovici welcomes Greek vote on prior actions
European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici welcomed the Greek parliament’s approval of the prior actions bill in a tweet on Thursday evening , saying it is “another step forward” for the country.
“Tonight’s vote in Athens [is] another step forward for Greece. We will assess with other institutions and report to EWG tomorrow,” Moscovici tweeted.