Athens, July 10 (IANS): The Greek government's proposal for a debt agreement with international creditors to avoid bankruptcy and a Grexit was on Friday simultaneously assessed by the institutions and Greek lawmakers.
The detailed package of new tax hikes, pension reforms and other policies in return for a 53.5 billion-euro ($59.85 billion) third bailout from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) until 2018 was submitted to lenders and the parliament late on Thursday night.
A teleconference on the Greek issue was under way between the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi, Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Klaus Regling and the Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and other Greek parliamentary leaders held in camera briefings of parliamentary groups ahead of the start of the debate in the plenum scheduled for later on Friday.
Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told the national news agency AMNA that the government would like to attend Saturday's Eurogroup meeting and Sunday's summit with a positive vote of the assembly in its hands.
The legislators are being asked to authorise the government to make the last stretch negotiations in the coming hours and sign a new deal this weekend.
After the negotiation is concluded, the final document will be submitted to the Greek parliament for approval in the coming days, making it a state law.
"We either carry on all together or we leave together," Tsipras told his Syriza party's parliamentary group on Friday in a bid to secure the “Yes” vote of all 149 Syriza MPs to the draft deal, according to AMNA.
According to media reports, the Leftist leader faces the risk of a "rebellion" by a group of Syriza deputies who object to the government's proposal as unsustainable and too harsh for Greek people, as well as a possible rift with his junior coalition partner.
Political analysts in Athens noted on Friday that the draft proposal sent to creditors and the assembly did not include the signatures of Minister of Productive Reconstruction Panagiotis Lafazanis and Minister of Defense and head of the right-wing Independent Greeks party, Panos Kammenos.
However, analysts stressed that the premier would most likely receive the "green light" anyway with the support of pro-euro opposition parties.
Over the past few hours, opposition political leaders repeatedly reminded Tsipras that citizen voters' “No” to the previous creditors' offer for a deal in the July 5 referendum gave him a mandate to carry out an agreement and not lead the country to a Grexit - exit from the eurozone.
Cabinet ministers and government sources on Friday expressed optimism that a deal would be clinched soon, arguing that the draft proposal was better than previous ones.
However, sceptics noted that the new reforms list was very close to the proposed reforms in the draft deal creditors made to Athens on June 25.
The Greek reforms list was met with mixed reactions abroad, according to the first remarks by European officials. French President Francois Hollande on Friday found the latest Greek plan "serious and credible", while in Berlin reservations were expressed over Greece's genuine commitment to their implementation.