Greece decries 'austerity experiment' but vows reform plan for creditors

Greece’s prime minister slammed the “austerity experiment” foisted on the country by its creditors, but nonetheless vowed to deliver a detailed plan for reform by Thursday in an effort to secure emergency funding and avoid a messy eurozone exit.

Speaking amid a mix of boos and cheers at the European Parliament on Wednesday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras vowed that a “credible” plan would be in creditors’ hands within the next 48 hours, and that it would include key changes to the country’s tax and pension codes. The plan is set to be discussed at a full European Union summit on Sunday — a meeting being eyed as a crucial deadline at which Greece’s future in the eurozone may be decided.

The developments come as banks in Greece remain closed and are in danger of running out of cash.

On Wednesday, Greece submitted a written request for a new support program from Europe's bailout fund, according to Michel Reijns, the spokesman for the eurozone's top official, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

In that written request, Athens pledged to honor its financial obligations and implement tax and pension reforms in return for a three-year rescue loan.

Greece needs to back that up by Thursday with a detailed, cost-assessed plan on the economic measures it would take in exchange for loans. So far, Greece has only produced an outline of the measures.

Despite the pressure on him to forge a deal, Tsipras appeared relaxed before the European Parliament on Wednesday, his first appearance before the body since a referendum Sunday in which Greeks overwhelmingly rejected the continuation of austerity measured demanded of the country by its creditors.

Applause rose from leftist quarters in the EU Parliament when Tsipras said aid to Greece only helped out banks, not ordinary Greeks.

He promised to deliver on detailed reform proposals by the end of Thursday, but slammed attempts to “terrorize” Greeks into voting for “never-ending austerity.”

The head of a conservative group in the Parliament, Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt, said he was “furious” at Tsipras' failure to spell out specifics of his reform plans to date.

Tsipras insisted last Sunday's referendum result, in which voters soundly rejected a previous creditors' reform proposal, does not mean a break with Europe.

He described Greece as having been used as an “austerity experiment” for the last five years of bailout reforms imposed on the country that led to spiraling unemployment and poverty, and a contraction of the economy by a quarter.

The experiment, he said, had clearly failed.

The Greek crisis has frayed the nerves of other European leaders, who have accused the Greek government, elected in January on promises to repeal austerity, of foot-dragging and exacerbating the situation.

Greece has been granted two bailout programs worth a total of 240 billion euros ($266 billion) in loans from other eurozone countries and the IMF. But the spending cuts and tax increases demanded as a condition for the loans have shredded growth, sending the country into a six-year recession and pushing unemployment to 25 percent.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press