Greek PM wants European parliament to join creditors quartet

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday asked that the European Parliament (EP) join the group of creditors overseeing the recently-approved bailout deal, AFP reports.

The request was made as eurozone finance ministers formally approved the first tranche of a new 86 billion euro ($95 billion) bailout for Greece that will allow Athens to meet a key loan repayment deadline on Thursday. 

Tsipras outlined the request in a letter to the parliament's president, Martin Schulz. 

"I request the direct and full involvement of the EP -- as the fifth actor in the context of the so-called creditors' quartet -- in the regular review process regarding the implementation of the loan agreement," he wrote. 

The quartet of creditors includes the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Stability Mechanism (the EU's bailout fund). 

"I deem it politically imperative that the sole European institution with direct popular mandate acts as the ultimate guarantor of democratic accountability and compatibility of economic policy in Europe," he added.

Such a role was part of the parliament's mandate, he wrote, quoting a regulation which referred to the oversight of economic and budgetary issues in member states that were "experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability". 

A Greek government source said that Tsipras had spoken by phone to Schultz on Wednesday and that the EP president had "positively welcomed the demand" saying such a demand had already been formulated by several political groupings within the parliament.