ATHENS, Greece
Apart from the looming financial crisis, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has to deal with angry lawmakers, some from within his own Syriza party, who oppose the proposals submitted recently to international creditors during bailout talks.
Deputy Parliament Speaker and Syriza lawmaker Alexis Mitropoulos told Greek private channel Mega TV on Tuesday that the "measures are not in line with the principles of the left".
"The prime minister first has to inform our people about why we failed in the negotiation and ended up with this result," Mitropoulos said.
Another Syriza lawmaker Giannis Michelogiannakis told private channel Ant1 on Tuesday morning that many measures included in the Greek proposal were in fact "crimes" and claimed they would not get the support of the Greek parliament.
Pavlos Haikalis, a deputy from the junior coalition partner, Independent Greeks, said: "The government has fallen into a trap; I don't know to what extent this can be implemented."
If the Greek parliament fails to support the deal then Tsipras might be forced to call early elections or a referendum, which would prolong the country’s instability.
Meanwhile, chief rating officer of the U.S.-based credit rating agency S&P, Moritz Kraemer, told a financial seminar in London on Tuesday that Greece would still be in the euro and the EU at the end of the year, but a delayed agreement would still not resolve its problems.
According to a poll conducted by TV station ZDF, more than half of Germans want Greece out of the euro; Standard & Poor's central forecast gave a slightly positive prediction.
Greek Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis told the BBC on Monday that there was now a basis for a formal accord with the international creditors.
Stathakis said that he expected the eurozone government heads to issue a communique that would say there was now a basis for a formal agreement with Athens to complete the current bailout program and release the next tranche of the bailout, €7.2 billion ($8.2 billion) which the Greek government needs to fulfill its obligations.
He said that the new proposals included new taxes on businesses and the wealthy, and some increase in the Value Added Tax rate on selected items. But no compromise was made on pension reform, he added.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eurogroup, however, said that finance ministers were still working to come to grips with Greek proposals, but added that it offered "an opportunity" for an accord.
Dijsselbloem added that another meeting might be held later this week to give all ministers time to understand and react to the new Greek proposals.
Greece is due to pay €1.6 billion to the International Monetary Fund at the end of this month. Eurozone finance ministers are expected to meet Wednesday night to discuss further the Greek proposals.
