Third Bailout for Greece Offered by Eurozone. The threat of expulsion from the Euro has forced Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to accept stringent new austerity measures just a week after Greece overwhelmingly rejected such a plan. Questions are already being asked about the cost of delaying the inevitable result. Mr Tsipras said that after a “tough battle”, Greece had secured debt restructuring and a “growth package”. One can only wonder what was so different in this latest package.
The loan itself will be worth around 82-86 Billion Euros over three years which will come mainly from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be asked for a contribution from March 2016. The Greek parliament must immediately adopt laws to reform key parts of its economy. The reforms include: streamlining the pension system and boosting tax revenue – especially from VAT. There are strict conditions to be met by the Greek government including surrendering much of its sovereignty to outside supervision, the bailout is conditional on Greece passing agreed reforms by Wednesday.
“Clearly the Europe of austerity has won,” Greece’s Reform Minister George Katrougalos said. “Either we are going to accept these draconian measures or it is the sudden death of our economy through the continuation of the closure of the banks. So it is an agreement that is practically forced upon us,” he told BBC radio.
“We fought hard for six months and battled to get agreement to get the country back on its feet. We were faced with a very difficult decision and hard dilemmas. We made a responsible decision in order to avert the most extreme plans by conservative circles in the European Union” Said Mr. Tsipras to reporters when leaving the latest talks.
A full and comprehensive view of the current situation can be found on BBC World news service.
