Greece will stick to society-oriented reforms: Greek PM

Greece will stick to society-oriented reforms, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday.

He dismissed reservations expressed by international creditors who claimed to see "unilateral actions" in his government's insistence to put to vote draft bills.

"If some people believe that nothing changed with the elections in Greece, let them keep their threats for those who put up with them. No threats to this government and no threats to the Greek people will be accepted," Tsipras told parliament during a debate ahead of a vote on a draft law.

The bill, the first draft law after the January 25 elections to be put to vote, was supported by some opposition parties as well. The draft law foresees free electricity, food stamps and other subsidies to low income households, with about 23 percent of Greeks suffering from poverty, according to official statistics.

However, according to media reports, the European Commission's chief representative of the technical team monitoring Greece, Declan Costello, has warned that the vote could be interpreted by lenders as "unilateral action" inconsistent with the Eurogroup's February 20 agreement.

Tsipras said his government would not back down from implementing measures to ease the pressure on recession-hit Greek society.

The Greek leader once again accused "forces" in Greece and abroad of trying to undermine the February 20 deal and lead Greece to financial meltdown.

He underlined that change was coming for all of Europe, adding that the Greek government was obliged to respect the popular mandate to end the memoranda and austerity, to recover Greek people's dignity and hold tough negotiations.

Tsipras said he hopes to clinch a deal to Greece's liquidity problem on a political level on Thursday during the upcoming EU summit in Brussels. Enditem