Greek parliament approves bailout reforms before Eurogroup meeting

Greek lawmakers approved on Sunday a bill which increases tax, creates a new privatisation fund and frees up the sale of non performing loans in exchange for much-needed bailout loans and to qualify for debt relief.

Athens hopes the vote, two days before a key euro zone finance ministers’ meeting, will help it wrap up a key bailout review and unlock new funds that it needs to pay IMF loans, ECB bonds maturing in July and increasing state arrears.

The left-led government has a narrow majority of 153 lawmakers who voted in favour of the reforms except one MP who approved the bill in principle but voted against some of the articles.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.