Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday defended his coalition government's latest legislative effort to pass dozens of "prior actions" required by creditors as part of the current bailout - the third consecutive memorandum since 2010.
Speaking in Parliament, the one-time political firebrand who won a landslide election in January 2015 on a campaign platform dominated by anti-bailout and anti-austerity rhetoric, said a "long and difficult cycle is now ending ... the legislative portion of prior actions is now essentially concluding in order to close the third review" - a reference to the end of the third bailout in August.
His address, coming amid debate over a voluminous omnibus draft bill, was repeatedly spiked with references to the looming end of the memorandums.
