Greek PM puts political survival on the line with reform plan

With a last-minute reform plan bowing to many demands of Greece's international creditors, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has put his political survival on the line.

Tsipras' government faces a vote in parliament later Friday -- authorising the government to negotiate on the basis of his proposals -- that he is expected to carry thanks to support from opposition parties.

But the reaction of his own lawmakers in his radical left Syriza party is less certain. The 40-year-old leader may face a full-scale rebellion when it comes to implementing the painful cuts Greece will have to swallow in a new three-year bailout plan.

Tsipras, whose Syriza party is a complex kaleidoscope of leftist movements, has tried to head off a challenge by telling his MPs "we face critical decisions".

"We either carry on together or we all leave together," he said, according to state news agency ANA.

The mercurial nature of the Greek crisis, which has already shipwrecked three governments in six years, has seen Tsipras go from being the scourge of austerity to possible betraying the radical leftist principles of his voter base.

The document he sent to Brussels early on Friday was nearly identical to the one Greeks rejected by over 61 percent last Sunday in a referendum.

Analysts said the novice premier faced an impossible choice between splitting his own party, possibly dooming his government, and going down in history as the leader who crashed Greece out of the euro.

"The plan will undoubtedly be approved thanks to opposition votes. But it will shake Syriza to its foundations," said Serapheim Seferiadis, a professor of political science at Athens's Panteion University.

"There are going to be resignations," he predicted, wondering about the future of a leftist party "carrying on the policies of the socialists and the conservatives".

Greece has already defaulted to the International Monetary Fund and has to repay the European Central Bank 4.2 billion euros ($4.7 billion) on July 20 with state coffers nearly dry.

Greek banks have also been shut for nearly two weeks, disrupting market operations and raising the fear of shortages as the public is limited to daily 60-euro ATM withdrawals.

- Tsipras 'miscalculated' -

"Obviously Tsipras, his close aides, his hangers-on and impassioned supporters miscalculated the consequences of their actions and inaction over the past five months," Nikos Konstandaras, editor of the liberal daily Kathimerini, wrote in a commentary.

"Tsipras must decide whether to stick to a course that has brought nothing but harm to the country or throw himself into whatever he can for Greece," Konstandaras said.

Just ahead of a midnight deadline on Thursday, the Greek government sent the creditors a 13-page document acceding to most of their demands to overhaul the costly pension system, raise taxes and commit to privatisations.

"The Greek proposal... includes funding of the country's financing needs... for three years, debt adjustment and a front-loaded investment package of 35 billion euros ($38 billion)," a Greek government source said.

Some early European reactions were positive, notably from France and Italy.

Slovakia, a staunch opponent of extending more bailout funds to Greece without it accepting more austerity measures, saw "progress" in the new proposals.

But it remains to be seen how other sceptical eurozone partners, Germany particularly, respond to the submission. Several had been openly suggesting Greece could be cut loose from the eurozone.

An EU summit is scheduled for Sunday to decide whether to accept Greece's reform plan in exchange for another huge bailout, its third in five years.

- 'No tomorrow' -

Trying to sweeten the pill, government daily Avgi on Friday said the "tough decisions" would be rewarded by debt adjustment and investment.

"There is no tomorrow," Avgi said. "Each of us must judge their position with a cool head and historic responsibility."

Tsipras's Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, the head of the party's hardline left wing, this week insisted that last Sunday's 'No' "will not become a humiliating 'Yes'" to what he described as "new (austerity) crematoria" for the Greek people.

"We don't want to follow two failed bailouts with a third bailout deal of hard austerity, suffering and deprivation for the Greek people," Lafazanis said.

Filippa Chatzistavrou, a researcher at the Eliamep think-tank, nevertheless argued that the ordeal would allow Tsipras to re-align his party and could even strengthen his hand.

If there is a deal, she says, "it will help Tsipras move his party towards the centre".

"He has limited room for manoeuvre. Nobody expects him to work miracles. If he manages to water down the austerity dosage, he will come out of this stronger," she says.