Greek government survives confidence vote

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' coalition government on July 8 easily passed a confidence vote in parliament, thereby continuing its important mission of resolving the country's two-year-long public debt crisis.

More than 50% of the 300 members of the Greek parliament voted in favor of Prime Minister Samaras' ruling conservative coalition.

The Greek government previously promised to stop implementing austerity policies while still complying with commitments to international lenders including the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The vote result was no surprise as Mr Samaras' New Democracy party leads a coalition that currently holds 179 parliamentary seats, along with the Socialist Party and the smaller left-wing Democratic Party.

In a speech on government policy the same day, Prime Minister Samaras affirmed that Greece will push ahead with delayed reforms.

However, Mr. Samaras added that he would also ask to suspend the implementation of the terms of the bailout package that the EU and IMF gave the country to reduce the "burden" of having to pursue austerity spending measures./.

According to (Vietnam+) - DT