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The Greek daily Kathimerini disseminated late last night the content of the proposal that the Greek government had submitted and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem had defined as a “good basis for discussion”, and it has already provoked a series of reactions.

It provides for budgetary measures amounting to 8 billion euro (2.6 billion euro this year and 5.2 billion euro next year). Athens proposes annual VAT revenue to the amount of 1.3 billion euro per year, which will come from the introduction of a 13% rate on hotel and restaurant services, and on electricity and water supply bills. The Greek government also proposes to abolish the status of reduced taxation that is in force on some islands and is committed to cancel the general exceptions that are creating inequality in terms of taxes. At the same time, the government states it is ready to introduce changes that will discourage the candidates for early retirement and to raise the retirement age to 67 years until 2025. In addition, Athens proposes to increase the social security contributions by 3.9% in order to secure 800 million euro a year and the social security contributions of pensioners by 4-5%, and to introduce a 5% charge for those who receive additional pensions.

The proposal envisages the introduction of a special 12% tax for companies with annual profits exceeding 500 million euro, an increase in the income tax for all companies from 26% to 29% and cuts in defence spending amounting to 200 million euro.

The proposal is accompanied by a letter from Alexis Tsipras that is personally addressed to President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

The Greek delegation in Brussels is listening to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras after the end of the EU summit Photo: twitter.com/Elbarbie

The final text of the agreement between Athens and its creditors that will ‘unlock’ the allocation of funds for the financing of Greece will become clear on Thursday, when the Eurogroup is due to hold another meeting. Otherwise, the country will not be able to repay its loans to the International Monetary Fund on 30 June, which will threaten it with bankruptcy.

The budget measures in the proposal that are beside the marks of SYRIZA’s election programme have provoked reactions in the party ranks. MP Yiannis Micheloiannakis from Crete was the first to state he would not vote in favour of an agreement that would contain the measures in question. He added, "In fact, this agreement will be a much more burdensome memorandum than the previous one. It will further deepen the misery in society that SYRIZA has pledged to eliminate." Micheloiannakis also said he knew deputies who were close to Alexis Tsipras and who would not support such an agreement either.

In the same spirit, deputy chairman of parliament Alexis Mitropoulos was adamant that "these measures will not be voted." In an interview with the Greek Star TV he said, "I believe that ultimately this package of measures will not be submitted to the Greek parliament. This is an extreme and anti-social agreement."

The hardest reaction so far has come from the "communist movement" within SYRIZA, which has called on all party members to vote against "the coming agreement-memorandum". The communication of the formation indicates that the measures are part of an "agreement on the extension of the memorandum" and proposes the holding of an extraordinary congress of SYRIZA, "to decide on a political change by adopting a programme to break with the Troika and the Greek capitalist oligarchy, and on a change in the party leadership."

Since morning, SYRIZA MPs have tried to mitigate the reactions in Greek television and radio broadcasts. Meanwhile, government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis has stated that "the government will not be able to continue to exist if it does not receive the votes of the government members." Significantly, the parliament must vote the expected agreement between Athens and its creditors by 30 June.