Greek parliament holds second bailout vote

(Vatican Radio)  Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is fighting to hold together his fractured Syriza party ahead of a second parliamentary vote on the new bailout terms scheduled for Wednesday evening.

Listen to John Carr's report:

Tuesday night Tsipras appealed to the hard-left dissidents in his party to vote with the rest on the second such package of conditions which Greece’s creditors say are necessary to keep the bailout funds flowing, and Greece in the eurozone.

Last Wednesday one quarter of Syriza deputies voted against the first package, triggering a minor cabinet reshuffle in which Tsipras got rid of a few uncooperative cabinet members.  Since then, though, the war of words within Syriza has been intensifying.

Prime Minister Tsipras isn’t taking any chances this time.  Controversial terms including higher taxes for farmers and pension reforms were left out of this week’s package to give as few deputies as possible the excuse to break ranks.

Tsipras has said that if fewer than 120 of the 149 Syriza deputies vote against the deal that he negotiated with the creditors, he’ll resign.  But here in Athens Wednesday morning that doesn’t seem likely, as the conservative and socialist opposition have said they will vote for the reforms Tsipras is urging.