As Greece passes more bailout reforms, Prime Minister Tsipras is still really popular

(Image credit: Thierry Charlier/Getty Images)

published 23 July 2015

On Thursday, the Greek parliament passed a new round of reforms mandated by the country's main creditors as a precondition for talks to unlock €86 billion ($94 billion) in bailout money. The judicial and banking reforms passed early Thursday aren't quite as unpopular as the first round of euro zone/IMF–mandated tax hikes and budget cuts, but Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras still had to quash a rebellion in his own anti-austerity Syriza party to get a majority. In the end, 230 of parliament's 300 members approved the new measures.

Despite the unpopularity of the new austerity measures and tax hikes, Tsipras still has an enviable approval rating of more than 60 percent, according to a recent poll by Kapa Research. "It's not that people do not realize that Mr. Tsipras made mistakes," political analyst John Loulis tells The Wall Street Journal, "but he is at least credited with an effort to achieve something better" and facing down the Germans. It helps Tsipras, Loulis added, that "his political opponents are considered odious, rejectable. Greeks can't even consider having them back." You can watch a Reuters report on the new measures below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.