Greek PM Tsipras moves to get Syriza party behind hoped-for deal

(Vatican Radio)  The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers is set to meet on Friday to examine the Greek request for a three-year, 53 billion euro bailout from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Listen to the report by John Carr:

The request, and the detailed reform plan to back it up, were submitted late Thursday night.  But two ministers did not sign off on it, suggesting a potential split in the government over how much more austerity the Greeks can accept.

So Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Thursday night began corralling the deputies of his left-wing Syriza party to get them in line, as hopes revived for a final bailout deal with Greece’s creditors, perhaps by Sunday.

Any deal will have to be ratified by a majority of the 300-seat Greek Parliament, where Tsipras and his coalition partners, the Independent Greeks, hold a twelve-seat majority.  But members of the militant Syriza left wing have warned Tsipras they could vote against a deal.

If that happens, it would bring down the six-month-old Syriza government and trigger fresh elections.  But it would also cause further chaos in an already chaotic Greek economy, and that was Tsipras’s main argument when he tried his persuasive skills on the Syriza hardliners here in Athens Thursday night.

At this stage, Tsipras can only hope that if he gets the green light from the ESM, the terms won’t be too onerous.