Greece provisionally accepts bailout agreement News
Greece provisionally accepts bailout agreement

[JURIST] Greece agreed to the main terms of a draft bill [text, in Greek] for a bailout on Tuesday that would provide about $95 billion to the country. There are many provisions in the bill some describe [AP report] as “harsh” such as the selling of state owned property, cuts to benefits across the board, pension cuts, and cuts to military spending, calling it “calling it [Belfast Telegraph report] “a noose around the neck of the Greek people.” While the many on the left hotly oppose the measure the draft bill is scheduled to go up for a vote in the Hellenic Parliament [official website] on Thursday.

The debt crisis [BBC timeline] in Greece began in 2009 with a down-grade of a credit rating, and in the following years, has led Greece to borrow hundreds of billions of euros. Last month Greece’s parliament voted to accept [JURIST report] the economic reforms rejected by the government just one week prior. Earlier this month the country voted [JURIST report] not to accept the bailout deal offered by Europe. Earlier that week, as the country was preparing for the vote, protesters in Greece gathered [JURIST report] in the tens of thousands, holding rival rallies that drew attention to the split within the country as the referendum approached. In April nineteen eurozone creditors held a meeting [JURIST report] in Latvia to demand the completion of the economic reform program agreed to be Greece necessary to avoid a Grecian default or exit from the euro. Earlier that month the European Central Bank (ECB) expressed concerns [JURIST report] about Greece’s draft law that prohibits the government from foreclosing on primary residences where borrowers can prove total wealth requirements as ripe for unscrupulous debtors to engage in strategic defaults without repercussions. In March Greece’s parliament passed an anti-poverty bill [JURIST report] that would provide free electricity and food-stamps to low-income households.