Creditors' offer prompts anger, dismay in Greece

By Karolina Tagaris & Deepa Babington

Lawmakers from Greece's ruling SYRIZA party reacted with dismay and fury on Thursday to a package of reforms creditors offered Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in return for cash, with one senior party official calling it a "murderous" proposal.

The starkly negative reaction points to a growing risk of a rift or outright revolt within the radical leftist party, which could prompt Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to resort to early elections to overcome divisions and win acceptance for a deal.

Avgi, the SYRIZA party newspaper headlined its Thursday edition: "A continuation of austerity? No, thanks!", while the top-selling daily Ta Nea splashed: "Death toll required for an agreement."

Full details of the plan drawn up by European and IMF creditors have yet to emerge after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker outlined it to Tsipras at late-night talks in Brussels. But partial details that have leaked so far showed demands for pension cuts and tax hikes that Tsipras's government would struggle to implement.

"(Juncker) took on the dirty work and conveyed the most vulgar, most murderous, toughest plan when everyone hoped that the deal was closing," Alexis Mitropoulos, a deputy parliament speaker and senior official within Syriza told Mega TV. "And that at a time when we were finally moving towards an agreement we all want because we rule out a rift leading to tragedy."

Lawmakers were incensed in particular by a proposal to scrap a benefit for low-income pensioners and a value-added tax change that Tsipras said would raise the value added tax on electricity by 10 percentage points.

Such measures are anathema to SYRIZA, which in January became the first...