The German parliament has approved the Greek measures with 439 votes in favor, 119 votes against and 40 abstentions. After a long session German lawmakers gave the go ahead for the third Greek bailout package. The endorsement of the plan by the German Bundestag Friday follows that of the French and Greek parliaments’ ratification earlier this week. The next step involves the remaining EU-19 national parliaments approving the plan so that Greece can enter into negotiations with the ESM to take out a 3-year loan. The debate in the German parliament was heated at some points with left party ‘Die Linke’ lambasting German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble for implementing harsh austerity measures on Greece.
Addressing German lawmakers, Angela Merkel criticised Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government for sending the Grek economy into reverse but she said she was encouraged by Wednesday’s vote. She rejected debt relief but she also said that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s “temporary time out” from the Eurozone was not a good idea. She pointed to three possibilities (1) bend the rules so far that they would lose their meaning (2) give up on Greece (3) to try once again.
Gregor Gysi, head of the left-wing Linke party reminded Germany that it has done well, making its exports more competitive. “Germany needs the euro more than Greece,” he said. He told Merkel that Schaeuble has been the chancellor recently, pushing “scandalous” ideas. Amid heckles, he quoted articles in The Telegraph that pointed to Germany acheiving dominance in Europe “without a single shot being fired”.
Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel pointed to the Greeks as being friends of Germany. “We cannot allow hungry children, begging pensioners, soup kitchens.”
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble asked the Budestag to vote in favor of a third deal for Greece after stating that a haircut is not a possibility under EZ rules. In an effort to restore his tarnished reputation he said that “nobody is as convinced that Greece needs help” as he is.
