German Bundestag approves third bailout for Greece by wide margin

The European Stability Mechanism will release the first tranche of funds to enable Athens to meet a €3.2bn bond repayment due to the European Central Bank on Thursday.

Under the terms of the deal, Greece has to make further spending cuts and tax increases and implement big reforms to its economy.

The Dutch parliament was also reportedly set to support the Greek bailout, after the governing liberal party said it would back the package despite its “many doubts”.

Schaeuble told lawmakers that while voting in favor of the bailout wasn’t an easy decision for him, approval of the three-year loan package is “in the interest of Greece and the interest of Europe”. The measure is intended to prevent Greece from defaulting on its loans.

The package, worth €86bn (£61bn), will be paid in installments spread over the next three years.

“Of course, after the experience of the last years and months there is no guarantee that everything will work and it is permissible to have doubts”, he said.

454 voted for and 113 against with 18 abstentions.

However, German media have reported that in a test vote late Tuesday, opposition was kept in check as 60 of 311 conservative lawmakers voted against or abstained.

The opposition Green Party also pressed the government on its refusal to consider debt write-down for Greece.

The decree, published on Monday, also said bank transactions related, among others, to foreign exchange spot transactions, interbank lending, derivatives trading, rollovers and transactions which did not materially change the liquidity of the credit institution were permitted, and prior authorization was not required.

Berlin already sees the European Commission as too soft on Athens and trusts only the International Monetary Fund to enforce the program rigorously. These have since been eased slightly, but not removed.

On that occasion, 119 lawmakers voted “No”. “We need to know whether the government has or does not have a majority”, he told state TV channel ERT. The mass-market Bild newspaper had predicted up to 120 deputies could jump ship at Wednesday’s vote. He said: “I consider it self-evident after the deep wound in Syriza’s parliamentary group for there to be such a move [a confidence vote]”.

The number of “no” votes reflected widespread scepticism in the German electorate to pumping more taxpayers’ money into Greece.

Tsipras has held a series of meetings with senior ministers, including on Tuesday with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who negotiated the bailout, and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis on Wednesday.

The liberal Dutch premier has come under fire for breaking a 2012 election promise in which he said no more money would go to Athens after two previous bailouts.

Historical responsibility “On the basis of historical responsibility, we should be in favour of debt relief for Greece”.

“We will monitor the process closely”, said Dijsselbloem after chairing the ESM board meeting.