Greek lawmakers vote for parliamentary probe on bailout

Greek lawmakers voted early Tuesday in favor of a parliamentary probe into the circumstances concerning Greece's resort to a bailout program in May 2010 and the painful austerity policies introduced ever since.

The proposal tabled by the left-led government was approved 156-72 with the backing of the two parties of the ruling coalition, the Radical Left SYRIZA and the Independent Greeks. A total of 250 deputies out of 300 members in the assembly participated in the session and 22 abstained.

"We need to shed light onto the dark aspects of the past five years," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told the plenary session. He argued that Greek people demanded answers and it was a fundamental step to restore citizens' trust to the political system.

Main opposition conservative New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras accused the government of attempting to create enemies to cover up people's disappointment of pre-election expectations instead of seeking consensus in difficult times for the Greek economy amid renewed scenarios of an imminent default this April.

"You are seeking charges against those who kept the country on its feet in the euro zone ... But in the end you will have to apologize for leading the country from recovery back to the crisis," Samaras said.

Under the government's proposal the parliament will make an inquiry on the bailouts for the period 2010-2014. The investigation will last at least until the autumn of 2015.

The socialists had proposed that the probe should also include the period from 2004-2009 before the outbreak of the debt crisis when the New Democracy was in power.

The conservatives on the other hand suggested that the investigation should go back to 1981 when the socialists first came in office. Endi