Of this initial €26bn, €13bn will be available for use by the Greek government straight away, followed by a further €3bn in November. There were 63 anti-bailout votes from the conservative benches, three more than at the last German vote on aid for Greece in July.
In fact, precisely because of his hardline credentials, it is the Finance Minister that will do most of the talking during the debate, making the case for the government’s proposal to agree on the Greek bailout agreement.
Eurozone finance ministers will be holding a conference call at approximately 7pm tonight to finalise the Greek bailout deal.
The German Parliament on Wednesday approved the Greek support programme and the disbursement of the first installment of 26 billion euros.
The vote has been dubbed the “last hurdle” for the bailout package to be sent to Greece, as Germany is a big player in the eurozone, holding the biggest economy.
Merkel sat impassively as Greens co-leader Anton Hofreiter criticized her government for taking a hard line during talks leading up to the accord on the new bailout. That 47 legislators chose not to attend the special session was an indication that some conservatives preferred not to vote at all. An important reason for the people of my party who thought that they could justify the third bail out package no longer applies, because the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is out. The newspaper Bild estimated as many as 120 CDU and CSU members out of 311 might refuse to back the now-agreed deal.
Although Schaeuble has said publicly that kicking Greece out of the Eurozone might be preferable to another bailout, he urged the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of Parliament, to ratify the new rescue plan “in the interest of Greece and the interest of Europe”.
Klaus-Peter Willsch, one of the parliamentarians from Merkel’s bloc opposed to the bailout, dismissed the plan during Wednesday’s debate as “a present” to Athens and suggested that Greece should exit the euro.
The three-year rescue package also won parliamentary approval in Spain, Estonia, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland this week. Germany is the largest single contributor to Greece’s economic bailout.
With Syriza’s left wing showing little sign of returning to the party fold, Skourletis also raised the possibility of early elections should Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras lose a confidence motion.
On that occasion, 119 lawmakers voted “No”.
The liberal Dutch premier has come under fire for breaking a 2012 election promise in which he said no more money would go to Athens after two previous bailouts. However, there are dozens of measures on tax, competition, social security and pensions that must be voted through and brought into force by the end of the year.The hardliners in Syriza have pledged to maintain their opposition to the measures and accuse Tsipras of betraying the anti-austerity values that brought him to power.