ATHENS, Greece—Greece’s lawmakers were debating an austerity bill set for a midnight vote Wednesday that will condemn the country to years of more budget savings but is needed to get a new bailout and avert financial collapse.
The raft of consumer tax increases and pension reforms has led to growing anger among Greece’s governing left-wing Syriza party, while the country’s civil servants’ union voiced its objections with a 24-hour public sector strike.
The vote will almost certainly see large numbers of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ own Syriza lawmakers dissent and vote against the package, raising questions of his government’s survival in its current form.
The bill is expected to pass with votes in favor by pro-European opposition parties.
