Greece races against clock to submit reform proposal

It has to present a detailed cost-assessed plan on the economic measures by July 9

Greece submitted a request for aid from Europe's bailout fund today, and is rushing to detail a plan of economic reforms that creditors want to see this week if they are to save the country from financial collapse and keep it in Europe's joint currency.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras earned both cheers and jeers as he addressed lawmakers at the European Parliament, where he said his country is seeking a deal that might bring a definitive end to his country's financial crisis, not just a temporary stop-gap.

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"We need to ensure the medium-term funding of our country with a development and growth program," Tsipras told the lawmakers gathered in Strasbourg, France.

Greece submitted a written request for a new support program from Europe's bailout fund today, according to Michel Reijns, the spokesman for the eurozone's top official, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Greece needs to back that up by presenting by the end of Thursday a detailed, cost-assessed plan on the economic measures it would take in exchange for loans. So far, Greece has only produced an outline of the measures.

European leaders will hold a summit on Sunday to decide whether the plan is good enough.

Applause rose from leftist quarters in the EU Parliament when Tsipras said aid to Greece only helped out banks, not ordinary Greeks. A few called for compromise.

The head of a conservative group in the Parliament, Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt, said he was "furious" at Tsipras' failure to spell out specifics of his reform plans.

The leader of Britain's nationalist UKIP, Nigel Farage, told Tsipras: "Your country ... Should have never joined the euro" and urged him to quit the common currency. Britain is not part of the euro.

Tsipras insisted last Sunday's referendum result, in which voters soundly rejected a previous creditors' reform proposal, does not mean a break with Europe.

In Greece, meanwhile, people were struggling with an eighth day of limits on money withdrawals. They cannot take out more than 60 euros (USD 67) a day from TMS, are unable to send money abroad or pay supplies or bills without special permission. The banks remain shut.

In his speech to the European Parliament, Tsipras aid Greece's troubles date to long before he took office five months ago.

He described Greece as having been used as an "austerity experiment" for the last five years of bailout reforms imposed on the country that led to spiraling unemployment and poverty, and a contraction of the economy by a quarter.

The experiment, he said had clearly failed.