Lawmakers gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel the green light yesterday to resume talks on a new EU-IMF bailout deal for Greece, after she passionately argued it was the last chance to prevent “chaos” in the crisis-hit nation.
Merkel, like Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, faced rebels in her own party ranks, but still won broad approval from the chamber, where her “grand coalition” commands an overwhelming majority.
The measure to seek a new 86 billion euro (US$94 billion) rescue package sailed through the Bundestag by 439 to 119 votes, with 40 abstentions.
Photo: AFP
Addressing the chamber before the vote, Merkel had argued that “we would be grossly negligent, indeed acting irresponsibly, if we did not at least try this path.”
It was Merkel — the leader of the EU’s biggest economy and the effective bailout paymaster — who spearheaded last weekend’s marathon Brussels talks that brought Greece back from the brink of crashing out of the eurozone, at the price of Athens accepting painful reforms.
The chancellor said there was “no doubt that the agreement Monday morning was hard,” but she urged lawmakers to back the deal, calling it “a last try.”
She said if a compromise over Greece had not been reached, it would have meant “watching on as the nation virtually bleeds out, people no longer getting their money, where chaos and violence could be the result.”
Equally, “bending the rules until they’re worthless” was not an option, she said, arguing that for Europe this “would mean the end of a community bound by legal rules and we wouldn’t agree to that.”
That was why, she said, “we are making a last try in tough, tenacious discussions” to seal a third aid package, “despite all the setbacks of the past six months and despite all legitimate skepticism.”
The German “Yes” vote came a day after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi boosted a vital cash lifeline to Greece’s struggling banks that would allow them to open their doors for the first time in almost three weeks on Monday.
To prevent a catastrophic “Grexit,” the Greek parliament in Athens early on Thursday adopted sweeping reforms on pensions, taxes and labor laws that were harsher than those Greeks had rejected in a July 5 referendum.
The about-face sparked violent street protests and speculation of early elections in Greece, where the SYRIZA party came to power in January polls.
Eurozone ministers rewarded Greece on Thursday by approving a vital 7 billion euro bridging loan and backing resumed negotiations.
Merkel, sometimes accused of lacking empathy amid the eurozone crisis, yesterday touched on the suffering of the Greek people, for which she blamed the Tsipras government.
“Imagine just for a moment what it would mean here in Germany if desperate pensioners had to queue up in front of shuttered banks to wait for their 120 euros a week,” she said, speaking on her 61st birthday.
Germany is one of several EU nations whose parliaments must sign off of any debt deal for Greece. The German vote was only about resuming official talks — a final deal with Greece would also need the assembly’s approval.
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