Lawmakers voted 454-113 in favor, with 18 abstentions.
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Germany’s powerful finance minister,
Wolfgang Schaeuble,
had opened the debate telling MPs it would be “irresponsible” not to approve a third bailout for Greece.
Schauble said that he would work with “complete conviction” for approval of the Greek bailout deal in the German parliament on Wednesday, when the question will be put to a vote.
The Bundestag vote cleared one of the final obstacles to Greece getting funding so that it can make a ‚3.2bn debt repayment to the European Central Bank today.
But in a blow to Merkel’s authority, dozens of conservatives vowed to oppose the bailout before the vote.
Senior European economist Jennifer McKeown pointed out that while Germany has not yet formally insisted on IMF involvement, Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated that she expects the Fund to participate from October, after the first review.
There is widespread scepticism among both German and Dutch voters to pumping more taxpayers’ money into Greece.
Germany is the largest single contributor to the bailouts and many in Schaeuble’s party remain skeptical.
The Netherlands endorsed a third bailout for Greece on Wednesday as both the cabinet and parliament approved the step after a bruising debate in which Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s credibility was challenged.
In Greece, the government is moving ahead with bailout implementation, having avoided a confidence vote which could have resulted in early elections.
Austrian MPs late Tuesday approved the latest Greek bailout with all members of Chancellor Werner Faymann’s centrist “grand coalition” voting in favour.
Bundestag backing for the aid package was always a foregone conclusion, as both the junior member of Merkel’s ruling coalition – the left-leaning Social Democrats and the opposition Greens – had signalled their intention to support the rescue plan. In total 63 of Ms Merkel’s 311 strong conservative group voted against and a further three abstained. Greece has suffered through an economic depression in the past six years and seen unemployment jump to over 25%.
“The problem isn’t a lack of European solidarity but a lack of Greek efficiency”, said conservative rebel Wolfgang Bosbach.
Some lawmakers also doubt whether the left-wing Greek government is fully committed to implementing the conditions attached to future disbursements as part of the aid package.
Eurozone finance ministers will be holding a conference call at approximately 7pm tonight to finalise the Greek bailout deal. Greece is expected to run a surplus on its budget, once debt interest payments are excluded, of 0.5% of GDP in 2016, 1.75% in 2017 and 3.5% every year thereafter.
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Schaeuble, who has repeatedly taken a more sceptical line than Merkel during the crisis and even floated a temporary exit for Greece from the eurozone, enjoys an approval rating of around 70 percent among Germans.
