The German parliament on Friday voted an overwhelming “yes” to start formal negotiations on a third Greek bailout plan. The Greek government has “changed its attitude” which has boosted hopes of securing an agreement within a couple of weeks, Dombrovskis said.
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“What the latest developments do mean is that we most certainly have not heard the end of this saga, as the problem is highly unlikely to go away”, said Angus Campbell, a senior analyst at the foreign exchange broker FxPro.
“If we don’t have the courage to end it – Greece won’t make it in the euro zone – there will be a fourth and a fifth bailout for Greece“, said conservative eurosceptic Klaus-Peter Willsch, who voted “no”. Merkel should German legistators Friday tends choose just a one in three bailout package deal for Greece, fighting that the cash-strapped place encounters confusion without any need of a bargain.
A total of 439 lawmakers voted in favor of the talks, with 119 opposed and 40 abstentions.
So Greece and the eurozone now need to negotiate all the details of a new bailout, get it approved in several parliaments, and then disburse the money – all before 20 August.
Schaeuble, the influential 72-year-old minister who has pressed a hard line with Greece for months, was unrepentant and even suggested that he would be prepared to step aside if Merkel objected to his negotiating tactics. Across Europe and increasingly in Germany itself, the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel is being blamed for treating Greece like a disobedient stepchild rather than an equal member of the European currency union.
The German Parliament’s vote capped a week in which the proposed bailout agreed by eurozone leaders Monday has cleared a string of hurdles. The ECB on Thursday raised the level of emergency funding available to Greece, a move that will allow Greek banks to reopen on Monday after being closed since June 29.
“I’m very realistic, and we try to be”.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde says debt restructuring is needed for Greece to free up to unleash the potential of its economy.
A few German media published reports based on the interview suggesting that Schaeuble was thinking about stepping down.
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In the ARD interview, Merkel reiterated that Greece could not be granted a “haircut”, or face value writedown of its debt, as long as it remained a member of the euro zone. The French president François Hollande yesterday called for the creation of a euro-zone government and for citizens to renew their faith in the European project, which has been weakened by the Greek crisis.
