[JURIST] Greece’s Hellenic Parliament [official website] passed an anti-poverty bill on Thursday, despite requests from international creditors to hold off on the vote until they had time to assess its budgetary impact. The anti-poverty bill is the first law passed since the leftist government was elected in January. The majority of lawmakers in Greece’s 300 seat Parliament voted in favor of the bill. In an effort to offset austerity, the bill will provide free electricity and food stamps to low-income households. It is expected to cost around 200 million euro, which the government says will be offset by cutbacks in ministry spending and the adoption of a more transparent system for awarding state procurement contracts. In a speech before the vote, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras acknowledged [WSJ report] that the move was not approved by international creditors, but lauded it for offering something to the people

The 2012 Greek bailout was one of the most dramatic events in the country’s recent history and it had a serious effect on the country’s economic stability. Last month Euro zone finance ministers agreed [JURIST report] to extend Greece’s financial rescue by four months. In May 2013 a report [JURIST report] by UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights Cephas Lumina found that the conditions of Greece’s bailout plan, put in place by its international lenders, had severely undercut the ability of Greek citizens to obtain a standard of living in line with international human rights standards. In January 2013 Greece’s Hellenic Parliament approved [JURIST report] new tax legislation enabling the country to pay back its loans and continue receiving financial aid. In October 2012 the Council of Europe found [JURIST report] that two labor reforms adopted by Greece as part of wider efforts to curb the nation’s financial crises were illegal. The Council’s non-binding ruling concerned two measures passed by the Greek government in 2010 at the urging of the country’s international creditors.