The Parliamentary Groups of coalition government partners SYRIZA and the Independent Greeks are going to convene on Friday in order to discuss the latest reform proposal, which appears to have been welcomed by the institutions.

In the tense Parliamentary Group discussion of SYRIZA, party president and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stated that Sunday’s referendum was not a mandate for a rift with Europe, bur rather one for a good agreement. The PM argued that it was important for the party to remain united and strong ahead of the critical decisions that must be made and underlined that he “will not become a new Papadimos […] we either carry on together or we leave together”.

The Minister of Finances Euclid Tsakalotos made a presentation of the latest proposal before his party’s MPs and noted that “we are struggling, we have no other choice”. Mr. Tsakalotos underlined that there both “difficulties and improvements” in comparison to the previous program and estimated that it included a better deal regarding fiscal targets and the debt. He also commented that it may be possible to avoid a privatization of ADMIE.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Productive Reconstruction and head of the Left Platform Panagiotis Lafazanis arrived late to the discussion, after the Prime Minister finished his speech. Mr. Lafazanis, who has adopted a harder line in the negotiations, claimed that the latest proposal submitted to the institutions are not compatible with the party program and stressed that it will not give the country any positive prospects.

Although Mr. Lafazanis was highly critical of the reform proposal, he did not outright state whether he would support or vote against the proposal when brought before Parliament. Rumors regarding his imminent resignation have been circulating for the past few hours.

A number of SYRIZA MPs were highly critical of the reform proposal and the government’s handling of the negotiations. Reports suggest that the former Minister of Finances Yanis Varoufakis will vote against the reform proposal, while MP Vasilis Diamantopoulos called the government to not approve the proposal, resign and call general elections.

Some of the MPs who took the stand were impassioned, such Gerasimos Balaouras, who stated that he felt “ashamed” and Parliament VP Alexis Mitropoulos, who condemned the proposal as an “antisocial package of measures”. Mr. Mitropoulos warned that the proposal would have “negate” the left, but conceded that there were no other options, other than a ‘Grexit’.

Prior to the PG meetings

Upon arriving to the SYRIZA PG meeting in Parliament, Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis expressed his confidence of reaching an agreement. Culture Minister Nikos Xydakis and State Minister Alekos Flampouraris appeared more reserved, with the former noting “we have a very tough Germany ahead of us, we must see how we will survive within this very difficult framework”, while the later stated that an agreement “does not just depend on us”.

The Parliamentary Group of the Independent Greeks is scheduled to convene at 12:30 in Parliament, with a number of MPs expressing their opposition to the VAT on islands and reduction in defense expenses.