THE Greek Vouli (parliament) approved on Friday morning by 222 to 64 votes, the new EC-IMF-dictated third austerity bailout accords, proposed by the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government.
But the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras could only get a majority with the votes of the Greek conservatives, social-democrats and the right-wing Media Party. The Greek Communist Party and the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party voted against.
Following a stormy all-night Vouli session, thirty SYRIZA deputies voted against the government; a further eleven abstained.
After the vote, the Greek government said that it will now seek a vote of confidence once the austerity bailout accords are approved by the EC. A Eurogroup meeting was scheduled for Friday evening to discuss the Greek bailout terms.
During the Vouli debate, Tsipras stated that he ‘had no regrets’ in accepting another austerity accord despite the fact that he was elected last January to ‘tear up the accords’ as he had put it. Tsipras said that there was no alternative, since Greece must remain within the Eurozone.
SYRIZA’s Left Platform leader Panayiotis Lafazanis blasted the government for leading Greece into a catastrophe. Lafazanis announced the formation of the ‘Movement of No’ which stands for no to the austerity accords and the euro.
The Vouli’s Speaker Zoe Konstantopoulou also voted against the austerity accords and said that she does not support this government nor Tsipras. A vile campaign against her was waged all week by the capitalist media.
Outside the Vouli on Thursday evening, about 1,000 workers and youth participated in an anti-austerity rally called by the ADEDY (federation of public sector trades unions). Only a handful of trades unions participated. The bureaucracy of the GSEE (Greek TUC) and all the main trades union federations have been absolutely silent on the new austerity accords.
Some 3,000 participated in a separate demonstration in Athens called by the Greek Communist Party. They tried to march to the EC’s offices but they were blocked by armed riot police and buses across the street.
The Revolutionary Marxist League of the 4th International distributed their leaflet calling for an indefinite general political strike to overthrow austerity, the treacherous SYRIZA government and capitalism.
