Discussion on the draft bill on bank recapitalization began in Greek Parliament shortly after 10 a.m. on Saturday. On Friday night, the bill had been approved by the plenary of the economic affairs committee.

The meeting on the bill is expected to end shortly after 8 p.m. on Saturday.

At Friday night’s meeting, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and Economy Minister George Stathakis both expressed optimism concerning the European Central Bank’s announcement on the results of stress tests for Greek banks that is due on Saturday. Tsakalotos said that he is more optimistic than he would have been a month ago. On his part, Stathakis appeared more enigmatic, sufficing to say that the needs of Greek banks are to be announced on Saturday. Greek opposition parties point to needs around 20 billion euros.