German lawmakers vote for third Greek bailout

Berlin

GERMAN lawmakers gave their go ahead on Friday for the eurozone to negotiate a third bailout for Greece, heeding a warning from Chancellor Angela Merkel that the alternative to a deal with Athens was chaos.

The Bundestag Lower House of Parliament, whose backing is essential for the talks to start, decisively approved the move by 439 votes to 119, with 40 abstentions. But almost a fifth of Mrs Merkel's conservatives voted "no" in a blow to the chancellor.

Popular misgivings run deep in Germany, the eurozone country which has already contributed most to Greece's two bailouts since 2010, about funnelling yet more aid to Athens.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has questioned whether a new programme will succeed, although the creditors' offer to Athens includes the conditions for more austerity and economic reform that Berlin had demanded.

But Mrs Merkel argued for negotiating a new deal to prevent a Greek exit from the euro - the "Grexit" that might undermine the entire currency union - and said that suggestions that Athens might temporarily leave the euro would not work.

"The alternative to this agreement would not be a 'time-out' from the euro . . . but rather predictable chaos," she told the Bundestag. "We would be grossly negligent, and acting irresponsibly, if we didn't at least attempt this way."

Mr Schaeuble himself has suggested that Greece might be better off taking such a time-out from the eurozone to sort out its daunting economic problems.

But Mrs Merkel said that neither Greece nor the other 18 eurozone member countries were willing to accept the idea. "Therefore this way was not viable," she added.

Mr Schaeuble lined up with his boss and urged lawmakers to vote to start the negotiations, adding: "It's a last attempt to fulfil this extraordinarily difficult task."

Not all conservatives agreed. A total of 60 voted against starting negotiations, more than double the number of rebels in a February vote on extending a second bailout package. The jump highlighted grassroots opposition to granting further aid.

"If we don't have the courage to end it - Greece won't make it in the eurozone - there will be a fourth and a fifth bailout for Greece," said conservative eurosceptic Klaus-Peter Willsch, who voted "no".

The Social Democrats were more united with 175 of their lawmakers backing the start of the talks and only four against.

The rebels reflected popular discontent with Greece. "Seven reasons why the Bundestag should vote 'No' today," ran a headline in the mass-selling Bild daily before the debate, listing "Grexit is the better solution" and "our grandchildren will pay" among its reasons.

A Forsa poll showed that 53 per cent of German voters had wanted Parliament to back the negotiations, with 42 per cent against.

The Greek Parliament approved the new bailout offer in the early hours of Thursday, although Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had to rely on opposition support after some lawmakers from his left-wing Syriza party also rebelled.

Mr Tsipras moved on Friday to replace his energy minister, one of the rebels, a government source said. Reuters

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