German MPs set to vote on Greek bailout - Gayo Lues

German lawmakers are expected to pass the motion on Monday, as the two main opposition parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Greens, have said they will vote in favour of the bailout.

As Europe’s richest economy, Germany must contribute more than any other country in the Greece’s EUR 130 billion bailout fund.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will give a statement to the Bundestag lower house of parliament before the vote by the 620 MPs to endorse the second lifeline for Greece, which was agreed following weeks of tortuous discussions between the debt-ridden country and its partners in the 17-country eurozone.

Merkel, who faces opposition from within her own centre-right parliamentary coalition, might have to rely on the opposition. MPs who vote in the Bundestag on Monday have the power to block the deal.

Fifteen lawmakers from Merkel’s coalition defied her in a September 29 vote on increasing the eurozone‘s rescue fund.

“At some point, you reach the end of the line because further liquidity isn’t solving the problems,” parliamentary chief of Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the Free Democratic Party Rainer Bruederle said.

Meanwhile, majority of Germans oppose the move, a poll by the Emnid institute for Bild am Sonntag newspaper found 62 percent of the Germans oppose the new rescue package while 33 percent are in favor.

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has also openly called for Greece to leave the eurozone saying it will have a better chance to make its economy competitive if it is outside the monetary union.

Greece has the highest debt burden in proportion to the size of its economy in the 17-nation eurozone. Despite austerity cuts and the bailout funds, the country has been in recession since 2009.

PG/JR