ATHENS (Sputnik) — In late Tuesday's vote, a total of 152 members of parliament supported the bill, surpassing the minimum 151 mark, while 141 opposed.
The bill stipulates a number of social welfare cuts and privatizations demanded by EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) creditors. Major state-owned companies, including the Public Power Corporation, the Athens and Thessaloniki Water Supply and Sewerage Companies, the Athens underground and the ELVO vehicle manufacturer, can now be passed to the fund that manages the sale of Greece's public assets.
The sale of water companies may be obstructed by a recent court ruling against the sale of public water works, as Tuesday's vote provided for observing constitutional limitations and court rulings.
The bill, designated as urgent, will proceed for an evaluation by a Eurogroup working group, which will then present its recommendations to EU finance ministers.
Under two previous bailout programs, Greece received around $270 billion from the IMF, the European Central Bank (ECB) and eurozone nations.
In 2015, Greece's international creditors signed an agreement with Athens, approving a third bailout package worth about 86 billion euros ($96.4 billion at the current exchange rates) in exchange for unpopular reforms.
