Greece’s creditors say satisfied by second reform vote

Greece's international creditors gave a positive assessment on Thursday of Greece's passage of a second package of reforms that are required to start talks on a third bailout of the country.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras contained a rebellion in his left-wing SYRIZA party to win parliamentary approval in the early hours of Thursday.

The European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund consider that Greece has implemented the second set of four measures "in a timely and overall satisfactory manner", a Commission spokeswoman said.

"Negotiations on the memorandum of understanding should now progress as swiftly as possible," she said.

Detailed negotiations with experts from the institutions are due to open in Athens on Friday. They hope to reach a deal on a bailout of up to 86 billion euros by August 20, when Greece is due to pay 3.4 billion euros to the European Central Bank.

[Reuters]