The German Parliament has approved the new bailout agreement for Greece, with 454 MPs voting in favor of the deal, 113 voting against it and 18 abstaining. Earlier, the German Minister of Finances Wolfgang Schäuble urged his colleagues in the German Federal parliament to back the third Greek bailout program.
Mr. Schäuble claimed that while there were no guarantees of the program succeeding, it would be ‘irresponsible’ to not give the Greek people the opportunity for a new start, especially since the Greek Parliament has approved and legislated on large party of measures.
Furthermore, the German Finance Minister told his colleagues that backing the new bailout program was the best path for the Eurozone members. Although the Greek bailout is also supported by opposition parties, there is a significant number of the German government’s allies who are skeptical about providing further aid to Greece.
The head of the Linke’s Parliamentary Group Gregor Gysi denounced the Greek bailout, claiming that it creates new debts to pay off older ones. He also argued that Germany has saved 100 billion euros thanks to the Greek crisis, but has not yet given one euro to Greece.
