The outcome of the vote is considered certain; the MPs which belong to the two parties of the government coalition are not expected to react in any manner which could change the outcome. It will pass. 

The bill contains even more raises in taxation, further cuts in the public health pension and insurance schemes, and the creation of an highly powerful fund which will have the jurisdiction and the scope of selling public assets and companies to the private sector in order to generate revenues towards the payment of the Greek public debt. The fund will not be liable to the control of the Greek state, something which, beside the practical implications, might justify questions over the sovereignty of a country which will no more have the power to decide over the future of its assets. It is safe to say that, in effect, this new, not elected “independent authority” will be the new Greek Ministry of Finance as it will have the jurisdiction to ascertain and collect public revenues from taxation, customs and other public income sources. At the same time it holds full responsibility for the “taking and implementation of all measures necessary for the efficient operation of its tax, customs and other mechanisms”. 

The new wave of taxation, to be added to an already exhausting tax system, is also devastating. There are sections of the working population, especially individuals and small companies, which will be expected to give more than half their incomes to the state. They are expected to do so in order to sustain a deteriorating public services sector, and it should not be overlooked that their turnover and income has been severely damaged while they have been trying to survive in an economy which has suffered the greatest economic crisis ever, in time of peace.

A new measure which raises deeper questions over the Greek sovereignty, is the creation of a new automatic mechanism for budget cuts which will be allowed to “turn on” should the country fail to meet its budgetary goals for surplus. Besides the obvious logical question, how will an even harsher set of cuts help an economy which will have failed to meet the previous goals, a new question begs to be addressed; what government can claim that it controls and decides over the fate of its voters if an automatic mechanism (not to be voted by the parliament) has the power to decide on economic policies?

Since the beginning of the Greek debt crisis, it has been obvious that should Greece want to remain in the Eurozone, it would be expected to work closely with its international debtors on, not only ways of paying, but the manners in which the state should be organized and collect revenues from its citizens. The whole procedure has been named a “rescue program” and over the past years, three such programs have been signed buy three different governments.

It is highly questionable, some might say proven, that these programs where ever going to work, but what is beyond doubt is that they have not worked. The IMF, which has participated in the loaning as well as the designing of those programs, today says that without a generous re-profiling of the Greek debt and without further recapitalization of the Greek banks, even this latest agreement is doomed. In a recent interview to ThePressProject, the former Greek FinMin Yanis Varoufakis did not hesitate to describe the situation plainly, if ominously, “(what is coming is) crisis and more crisis”.

Moving beyond the economic realities and speculations of the program, Greece, and in particular the coalition which holds the government seat at the moment is faced with further turmoil. The main government party, Syriza came to power years of angry rhetoric against the bailout agreements and the measures which strangle and destroy any chance of economic recovery and survival for the country. Its MPs are now appearing to be lamenting the fact that they will have to vote for what a member of the right wing opposition aptly described “(with the bill that you are proposing)you (the government) have gone beyond the wildest dreams of any liberal thinker”. The, until recently, “radical left” MPs are indeed now forced to put the last straw on the camel's back. It might be true that they did not vote for all the previous straws but it cannot be denied that this one is carrying their votes.

The identity crisis of the “radical left' is not only an impressive phenomenon to look at, after all the European left has entered a spiral of identity re-drawing since the fall of the Berlin wall. A question that surfaces is if once the left has lost its connection with those who oppose the austerity policies, and last year's referendum showed that their numbers are considerable, the only political sector left to represent them will be the nationalist far right. A guess is not easy but, again, today's voting MPs cannot easily shake the responsibility off their backs.

The sad truth over the recent developments can be found in the latest talk of the current FInMin E.Tsakalotos at the parliament; “I know that the situation is very difficult for the Greek society. I know how it is when you take something away from someone when you have already bombarded them with measures. Yet every small step makes our lenders understand that we mean everything we say and work towards (the country's) restoration of health”. Later on Mr.Tsakalotos said that he will not try to say what kind of solution will come out of the Eurogroup on July 24.  The conclusion is plain; Greece gives away sovereignty, and its citizens further suffering, hoping to “persuade” its lenders that it has, finally, capitulated entirely, and is willingly harming itself to prove it.