Greek parliament adopts new anti-poverty law

ATHENS: The Greek parliament adopted a "humanitarian crisis" bill on Wednesday, the first package of social measures put forward by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' radical left-wing government.

In going ahead with presenting the bill of housing allowances and emergency food aid for the poorest, which also received support from conservative New Democracy lawmakers, the government ignored apparent attempts from the European Commission to halt it.

Athens reacted angrily to a request from Declan Costello, a representative on the European Commission team monitoring Greece, telling the government not to make a "unilateral" move.

In the latest skirmish between heavily indebted Greece and its creditors, government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said the Commission's move amounted to a "veto" of the bill and added to the "pressure" on Greece.

However, the EU's economic affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici denied it had been a veto of the bill.