Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras denounced talk of Greek exit from the Schengen area in an address just before the 2016 state budget was passed by parliament.
Tsipras also slammed main opposition New Democracy MPs for reiterating the threats of Greece¨s European critics.
The PM noted that EU interior ministers at a Friday council meeting lauded the Greek contribution to managing huge refugee flows.
The budget was passed with the 153 votes of the MPs of the ruling SYRIZA-Independent Greeks coalition, with 145 nays and two absent MPs, Nikos Nikolopoulos of Independent Greeks and Yorgos Vagionas of New Democracy.
Just prior to the vote, Tsipras responded to a torrent of criticism from opposition parties.
Tsipras claimed the no vote in the July referendum, which he promptly overturned by signing the third bailout, helped the government secure improvements of the initial EU plan.
The large number of foreign investors in bank recaps, Tsipras said, is an indicator of a rapid return to a normal economic situation.
Tsipras cited 300 million euros earmarked for hospitals as an example of social policy, and he said 12 jobs programmes will offer short-term employment to 100,000 people, and another 100,000 in a second batch.
He cited statistics showing 112,000 new jobs in the public sector, while noting unemployment levels remain extremely high.
“You lost three elections in the last year and yet you have not wised up,” Tsipras told main opposition New Democracy.
Interim New Democracy leader Yannis Plakiotakis lambasted Tsipras as a political fraud that broke all his key electoral pledges. He said the PM is operating under the illusion that he is governing and that his role is historic.
“In truth, Mr. Tsipras, when will you table that executive order abolishing the bailout memorandum?” Plakiotakis asked with more than a touch of sarcasm, referring to SYRIZA electoral pledges in January.
Plakiotakis asked the PM to consider all the ills his governance has bred, and declared that New Democracy has been vindicated on basic policies, such as accession to the European Community.
He declared that the first budget of a left-wing government has 3.2 billion euros in taxes, which he said confirms that SYRIZA is a political fraud.
Plakiotakis charged that the government is poised to cut pensions and has opened the floodgate on home foreclosures.
Potami leader Stavros Theodorakis called for a decrease in the number of civil servants who work in political offices and for a slashing in half of state funding to political parties, which received 900 million euros over the last years.
Theodorakis slammed the budget, citing steep tax hikes that are going into a bottomless pit. He charged the ruling coalition has engaged in rampant political patronage
Junior coalition partner Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos told opposition parties that the government can pass the budget and rule with its three-seat parliamentary majority, but that broader consensus on national issues such as defense is desirable.
Kammenos said the 2016 budget is the product of tough negotiations with creditors, which he claimed saved Greece 5.6 billion euros in new tax measures and helps efforts to wrench the country free of the control of creditors.
Οι πιο πρόσφατες Ειδήσεις
Διαβάστε πρώτοι τις Ειδήσεις για ό,τι συμβαίνει τώρα στην Ελλάδα και τον Κόσμο στο thetoc.gr
