Second Greek bailout bill passed

  • 23/07/2015
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras votes during a parliamentary session (Reuters)
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras votes during a parliamentary session (Reuters)

Greece's parliament has passed legislation on a second batch of reforms needed to help unlock a huge international bailout.

The bill, which includes civil justice reforms, a bank deposit protection scheme and measures to shore up the liquidity of the banks, was backed by more than 200 MPs.

The vote had been regarded as a key test of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' authority, after he suffered a major rebellion by MPs in his leftist party Syriza last week.

Tsipras had to rely on opposition MPs to pass the first bill, which approved sweeping changes to debt-crippled Greece's taxes, pensions and labour rules - key conditions for opening talks on a bailout worth up to 86 billion euros ($A127.38 billion) over three years.

Analysts had regarded the second vote as a test of whether Tsipras could avoid another deep split within Syriza, and head off the risk of early elections after only six months in power.

But the Greek prime minister, who is riding high in the opinion polls, appeared to have suffered far fewer defections than in last week's vote.

AFP