The controversial “mini DEI” bill was approved in Parliament on Wednesday, with 51 MPs voting in favor of the bill, 46 MPs voting against and 1 MP voting present.
Upon completion of the vote, ANEL’s Rachel Makri submitted a request for a referendum in order to ask the Greek people “whether they approve of the bill”. The group of 14 independent MPs and Golden Dawn later submitted their own proposals, followed by SYRIZA, the Communist Party and DIMAR, while independent MP Polydoras also submitted one on his own.
While the proposals are technically separate, the President of Parliament Evangelos Meimarakis recently noted that since they all appear to have the same goal, namely to trigger a referendum over the privatization bill, they can be counted as one. This prospect will be clarified by the scientific council of Parliament.
The coalition government is considering rushing the process and have President Papoulias sign the approved bill, so that it can be published in the government gazette as soon as possible, thus disallowing the opposition parties of using the constitutional provisions for a plebiscite.
