German minister criticizes Schaeuble’s idea that Greece take a “timeout” from

Dimitris Vitsas was appointed new alternate defence minister, replacing Costas Isichos, another SYRIZA lawmaker who voted against the agreement. But nearly a fifth of Merkel’s conservatives voted “no” in a blow to the chancellor.

The €80bn (£57bn; $88bn) bailout deal agreed after some 17 hours of talks between eurozone leaders last week was conditional on Greece imposing tough new reforms of its taxes, pensions and labour market, as well as privatising key state assets. The alternative to an agreement, she added, “would not be a timeout from the euro that would be orderly… but predictable chaos”. “We would be grossly negligent, and act irresponsibly, if we didn’t at least attempt this way”.

But Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also faced harsh criticism for his hardline approach to the negotiations and repeated calls for a temporary Greek euro exit.

Greece’s proposed bailout cleared further key hurdles Friday after German lawmakers overwhelmingly gave their backing to another financial rescue and the European Union said it would release a short-term loan to ensure Athens avoids a debt default.

However, the number of lawmakers voted “no” was significantly higher than in February when parliament voted on the extension of Greece’s second bailout program.

The rebels reflected popular discontent with Greece.

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

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made changes to his government, two days after suffering a widespread party rebellion over an austerity bill that he had to push through Parliament as part of creditor requirements to start talks on a third bailout.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) raised the level of emergency funding available.

On Wednesday, however, a leaked report from the worldwide Monetary Fund (IMF), another one of Greece’s worldwide creditors, branded the country’s debt “highly unsustainable”, and urged debt relief on a scale “well beyond what has been under consideration to date”, a sharp departure from Germany’s position.

In addition, 50 billion euros ($54.14 billion) in public assets are to be placed in a special privatization fund as collateral for loans of up to 86 billion euros that must be agreed with European partners.

The Kathimerini newspaper on Sunday said the “Grexit” plan, which also entailed Greece’s expulsion from the Schengen Treaty, had been secretly prepared in less than a month by a 15-member European Commission team.

Although Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has taken a hard stance on Greece, France and Italy have been more conciliatory.

He suggested its financing needs were spiralling and a debt “haircut” or write-off – outside the euro zone – might be a better solution.