Merkel says will recommend Greek deal to parliament if laws passed

[BRUSSELS] German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would recommend "with full conviction"to parliament to authorise the opening of negotiations with Greece on a third bailout once the Greek parliament approves the whole programme and enacts initial laws.

Ms Merkel would not say when that would happen but said she would give a positive report to a parliamentary committee this week. It was better not to recall lawmakers from the summer recess until they were sure the Greek laws had been passed, she said.

After an all-night negotiation pitting her against leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the conservative chancellor said Greece had made conditions worse for itself through the sharp deterioration of its economy in the last six months, and the closure of its banks for the last two weeks.

Asked whether she trusted Greece to implement the painful package, she said: "It will be a long and difficult road." She acknowledged that Germany had dropped a demand that the agreed summit document state explicitly that Greece should have to take a "time out" from the eurozone if it did not meet the conditions for the bailout.

"We don't need a Plan B because the Plan A was approved," she said.

REUTERS

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