Greek crisis: Alexis Tsipras urges MPs to back bailout plan

The tax status of certain far-flung Greek islands will be affected by the new proposals, reports my colleague Angelique Chrisafis who is in Greece.

The creditors had insisted last month that Greece completely scrap its special low VAT rates for distant Greek islands. This special VAT discount rate has been in place for decades, to help certain islands which are far away from the mainland and have to pay high costs to bring essential goods long distances from Athens or Thessaloniki.

Under the new proposals, the Greek government has agreed to remove the special VAT discount, initially targeting only the richest and least remote of those islands, which would include the tourist-magnet of Mykonos. But it seems that the special measures would remain in place to help the most remote islands - and presumably the smaller and poorer of those islands, whose dwindling populations have already been hit hard by the crisis.