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Jul 17, 2015 10:13 AM EDT
In the worst economic crisis to hit Greece in decades, member of parliaments voted by a huge majority in the wee hours of Thursday to accept and pass the punitive austerity bill.
The approval of austerity bill from Greek parliament was a result of further bailout financing, but also at a significant personal price to Greek's Prime Minister Mr. Alexi Tsipras.
According to The Guardian, the vote witnessed great levels of distress both outside and inside the Greek parliament, where the radical left-wing party Syriza faced a number of resignation since more than 30+ parliamentary members were against the measures.
In the end, a total of 229 lawmakers had voted in favor of the austerity measures with 64 against and 6 refraining themselves from the vote.
The bill will enforce extensive tax hikes and cuts on spending. It drove the governing left-wing party irate leading to wide protests against Alexi Tsipras, who on the other hand was persistent that the agreement with creditors after a marathon weekend Eurozone summit was his best effort to save Greece from disastrously crashing out of Euro.
Key party members among Syriza's protestors included former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis. In addition, Yanis Varoufakis was blamed for aggravating the tensions with Greek's creditors due to his coarse style during his five months of strenuous negotiations with the creditors.
The debate was surrounded by anti-austerity protest by around 12,000 dissenters outside the Greek parliament, which devolved into a violent clash. Police clashed with youth proteters who were seen tossing petrol bombs for almost an hour before the clash finally subsided.
The Greek Austerity Bill was the very first measure Greece ought to take as part of the agreement with creditors on a new bailout- Greece's third in the last five years. This fresh bailout is a whopping 85 billion euros ($93 billion) in the form of loans over the course of three years.
Euclid Tsakalotos, the current finance minister who took over the charge from Varoufakis a day post the July 5 referendum stated that the agreement finalized with country's creditors on Monday was the only possible alternative.
"I should tell, that Monday morning was clearly the most testing day of my entire life. It was one decision that will stay with me for my entire life", Tsaskalotos said.
Addressing the parliament, Tsakalotos pointed out the uncertainty of the decision. "I am not sure if we moved in the right direction. But, I do know that we did something out of no choice." He added, "Nothing was sure and nothing will be."