Greece approves reform bill, eyes bailout tranche

Greece's parliament approved early Friday a bill with reforms prescribed by the country's international lenders, ahead of a euro zone finance ministers meeting in three days which will decide if Athens qualifies for fresh bailout funds.

Greece needs to legislate a series of reforms to pass the first review of a new bailout worth up to 86 billion euros ( euro 61.45 billion) it signed up to earlier this year. It must also revamp its banking system by the end of the year to start talks on much-needed debt relief which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made a priority.

A majority of lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament approved a bill which improves on previous legislation for the calculation of pensions, forces Greece to comply with EU energy efficiency rules, lifts obstacles for the sale of Greece's largest port and scraps tax breaks for farmers.

Passing the bill was crucial, but there are still issues holding up a review which can unlock 2 billion euros of aid, a sub-tranche of an initial 26 billion instalment. Greece's compliance assessment to date is set to be on the agenda of a session of euro zone ministers, known as the Eurogroup, on Monday.