Greek parliament approves crucial bailout reforms

Greek MPs yesterday voted by a wide margin to approve the latest economic reforms demanded by its lenders. At another late-night session in parliament, 230 MPs backed the plan while just 63 opposed it.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras once again faced down rebels within his own party who oppose a third bailout. 36 Syriza MPs either voted no or abstained, three fewer than at a similar vote last week.

The vote clears the way for Greece to begin formal talks with its lenders on a three-year package of loans that could be worth €86 billion.

The reforms include changes to Greek banking and an overhaul of the judiciary system.

Thousands demonstrated outside of parliament as the bill was debated, with protests briefly turning violent as petrol bombs were thrown at police.

There had been fears of a rebellion by MPs but Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was easily able to muster the support required. In total, the measures received 230 votes in favour and 63 against with five abstentions.

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was one of those rebels in the first vote who returned to vote with the government this time.

Speaking before the vote, Tsipras stressed that he was not happy with the measures that creditors had imposed.

"We chose a difficult compromise to avert the most extreme plans by the most extreme circles in Europe," he told MPs.

Representatives of the European institutions that would provide the bailout funds will begin negotiations in Athens on Friday.

Last week, Greece passed an initial set of austerity measures imposed by its creditors. These were a mix of economic reforms and budget cuts demanded by the eurozone countries and institutions before bailout talks could continue.

This second set of measures passed early on Thursday morning were of a more structural nature, including; a code of civil protection aimed at speeding up court cases, the adoption of an EU directive to bolster banks and protect savers' deposits of less than €100,00 and the introduction of rules that would see bank shareholders and creditors - not taxpayers - cover costs of a failed bank

More contentious measures - such as phasing out early retirement and tax rises for farmers - have been pushed back to August.

On Wednesday, the European Central Bank (ECB) increased its cash lifeline to Greek banks.

The emergency injection of an extra €900 million, the ECB's second in a week, came just hours before the vote.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed on Monday that Greece had cleared its overdue debt repayments of €2.05bn and was no longer in arrears.

The repayments, which included €4.2 billion to the ECB, were made possible by a short-term EU loan of €7.16bn.

Greece's next major deadline is 20 August, when it must pay €3.2 billion owed to the ECB, followed by a payment of €1.5 billion to the IMF in September.

The protest in Athens' Syntagma Square - called by Greece's public sector union - was reported to have been largely peaceful, until a number of petrol bombs were thrown in the direction of police.