A new bailout for Greece, currently being hammered out by European Union leaders as part of a broader rescue package for the bloc, will need a qualified majority of at least 180 in Greece’s 300-seat Parliament, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos suggested on Monday after telephoning opposition party leaders from Brussels to brief them on the progress of talks at an EU summit.
Asked by reporters late on Monday whether the government would seek a qualified majority when the rescue package reached in Brussels is put to a vote in Greece’s Parliament, Venizelos said that ”such matters must be addressed with a heightened sense of responsibility and if possible voted through Parliament with a broad majority, not because this is a legal requirement but because it is a national imperative and political responsibility.” The minister – as daily Kathimerini reports – added that he had briefed party leaders on ”the framework of negotiations, the basic figures, the crucial issues, the priorities and the risks.”
Earlier in the day, the leader of the right wing Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), Giorgos Karatzaferis had indicated, in an interview on Mega television channel, that the government was planning to seek 180 votes for any deal reached in Brussels, instead of a simple majority of 151.
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