While accepting the risks, he said the Greek parliament has already approved most of the measures, and as such it “would be irresponsible not to seize this chance for a new beginning in Greece”. “Whether it will be used will be decided by the Greeks alone”, the minister said.
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The vote culminated a bruising month for the German chancellor, who has struggled to convince the German public and her own party why taxpayers should continue to support a rescue effort that by most accounts has so far failed.
The EU and worldwide Monetary Fund provided €110 billion in bailout loans to Greece to help the government pay its creditors in 2010.
These rumors were persistent last week, but were though to subside as Wolfgang Schaeuble – the Greek “time out” advocate – was now joining the Merkel consensus.
“The pace of arrivals has been steadily increasing in recent weeks, with more refugees and migrants having arrived in Greece during July than during the whole of last year”, UN associate spokesperson Vannina Maestracci said at a daily news briefing.
However, German media have reported that in a test vote late Tuesday, opposition was kept in check as 60 of 311 conservative lawmakers voted against or abstained.
Schaeuble, a fiscal hawk who drove a hard bargain in countless rounds of bailout negotiations with Greece, insisted deputies could vote for the package with a clear conscience.
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.
Unlike other eurozone nations such as Germany, Spain was not required to have its parliament approve the bailout but Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he decided to put it to a vote because Madrid’s contribution to the aid package is “significant”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets colleagues as she arrives for a meeting of the parliamentarian group of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at the parliament in Berlin.
Under the terms of the bailout deal, Greece has to make further spending cuts and tax increases and implement big reforms to its economy, a continuation of harsh austerity measures which many Greeks blame for the country’s ongoing economic malaise. Germany’s was the largest contributor to the two previous Greek bailouts.
Support from parties including the Social Democrats, Merkel’s junior coalition partner, and the opposition Greens means German approval of the bailout is not in doubt.
IMF’s participation in the new 86 billion-euro bailout is uncertain because the fund demands debt reliefs to ease the burden on Greece.
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“I am fairly confident that we (international creditors including the IMF) will reach a joint assessment of (Greece’s) debt sustainability in October”, said Schaeuble, reiterating that a debt haircut is not possible.
