Parliament president Nikos Voutsis was the latest top ruling SYRIZA party cadre this week to warn that a “contingency package” of extra spending cuts, as demanded by creditors, will not pass a Parliament vote.
His comments echoed a similar statement by Alternate DM Dimitris Vitsas on Wednesday, who also said the extra package, worth 3.6 billion euros (on top of a mostly agreed to package of 5.4 billion euros) is a politically impossible proposition.
Voutsis’ comments on Thursday came during a committee meeting where two twin draft bills were submitted by the government: one with tax hikes and the other with mostly pension reforms aimed at reducing the annual budget outlay for social security.
A vote in the plenum is now scheduled for the weekend, given that a Eurogroup meeting on Monday will be convened exclusively to consider progress on the Greek issue.
