Respite for the Euro: Greece Dodges Insolvency by Passing Austerity Package

``The Greek parliament on Wednesday passed a vital 28 billion euro austerity package, allowing the country to avoid immediate insolvency. Efforts to come up with a vast new bailout for Athens have also made progress this week... The passage of the belt-tightening measures was a critical step for Greece to avoid immediate insolvency. The European Union had made passage of the package of laws a condition for the release of the next €12 billion tranche from the €110 billion Greek bailout package passed last year. Without that money, Greece would have defaulted on its debt by mid-July. ''