Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, is preparing for a make-or-break parliamentary vote over the austerity measures Athens must take in exchange for a fresh bailout from its eurozone partners.
Just hours before the vote, Tsipras suffered a blow with the loss of a key minister, Nadia Valavani. The deputy finance minister resigned, saying it was “impossible” for her to keep serving in the government given the austerity measures to which Tsipras had agreed. She warned the nation faced a “crushing” capitulation at the hands of its creditors in Brussels.
Tsipras must keep the number of rebels within his own party below 40 in order to pass the measures required as part of the controversial rescue package agreed after marathon talks last weekend.
The deal – which includes austerity measures tougher than those overwhelmingly rejected by the Greek public in a referendum this month – has come under fresh fire after the International Monetary Fund published a highly critical paper calling for large-scale debt relief for the stricken country.
