Greece’s parliament squeaks through the austerity package amid violence
The coalition government narrowly passed an omnibus bill containing structural reforms and austerity measures shortly after midnight on Wednesday.
A total of 153 out of 300 MPs approved the measures, which pave the way for Greece to receive its next tranche of bailout founding - 128 deputies voted against the package, while 18 voted «present».
The vote, however, came at a cost for the coalition as it lost several MPs. PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos ejected six lawmakers from his party for voting against the package. This included former minister Costas Skandalidis, who was rumored to be mounting a leadership challenge. The move reduces the number of PASOK lawmakers to 27.