The Greek coalition government won the crucial vote on the revised bill revoking the inclusion of the property tax (ENFIA) in the 100-tranche payment plan for outstanding debts to the state. Out of the 261 MPs who voted by roll call, 147 voted in favor of the amendment, 112 voted against, and two MPs said “present.” The vote was carried out following a request by leftist SYRIZA after a raging debate about the government backing down to troikas’ demands. The government had initially included the ENFIA tax in the 100-tranche payment plan but then was forced to revoke it following the objections by Greece’s international creditors. The only two “losses” the New Democracy-PASOK coalition suffered were the votes of two PASOK MPs, namely Apostolos Kaklamanis and Michael Kassis who voted “present,” essentially voting against the amendment. On the separate bill regarding facilitation of “red” business loans, 165 MPs voted in favor, including independent MPs and some from the Democratic Left. There were 83 votes against (from SYRIZA, the Greek Communist Party and Independent Greeks) and 13 called “present,” (from Golden Dawn and the independents). The “red” loans vote was decided by the coalition as a challenge to SYRIZA, after the leftist party MPs had said that they would vote down the reform. The bill on the payment plan was of most importance since the government wants to convince the troika to come back to Athens and resume the inspection. The international lenders had objected to the original bill fearing that it would increase Greece’s fiscal gap by 1 billion euros.
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