Sixty-three German conservatives voted against third Greek bailout

A yes vote from the German parliament is not in doubt, although there have been nagging questions for chancellor Angela Merkel about divisions within her own conservative ranks.

This came as German MPs gave their approval for a third bailout, with 454 voting in favor and 113 against, along with 18 abstentions.

Once all national procedures were completed, 13 billion euros among the first tranche of 26 billion euros would be disbursed to Greece for its pressing bills including a repayment of 3.2 billion euros to the European Central Bank on Thursday. In a similar vote last month, 60 members of the caucus voted outright against. Some local media had speculated that as many as double that could rebel this time as Germans are increasingly skeptical about giving Greece more money, but in the end only 63 from her bloc of 311 voted against.

Last week, eurozone finance ministers approved an €85.5 billion bailout for Greece to run over three years.

The government has taken several steps to try to halt the financial crisis – including closing the stock exchange for more than a month, shutting banks for three weeks and instituting limits on the amount of money Greeks could withdraw.

Accepting the conditions was a major reversal of policy for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the coalition government between his radical left Syriza party and the small nationalist Independent Greeks.

Germany’s was the largest contributor to the two previous Greek bailouts, which totalled €240bn.

The lower house of parliament is expected to approve the rescue package in a vote later Wednesday.

Bailout opponents argue that Greece is in a debt trap and that policymakers are bending euro area rules to hold the currency union together.

In the Bundestag, the bailout was also expected to attract support from other parties in the chamber, including Merkel’s junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats, and the opposition Greens.

Schäuble laid out his hope that the bailout will help turn the Greek economy around.

Fitch Ratings upgraded Greece’s sovereign ratings by one notch to “CCC”, saying that the agreement reached between Greece and the European institutions last week on the framework for a third bailout has reduced the risk of Greece defaulting.

By match, Tsipras versed the main rising but still among anti-bailout congress from his leftist Syriza party, shooting him to look at a confidence vote that may contribute to earlier elections if he ignores.

Critics say Greek citizens already have endured enough financial constraint.

A spokeswoman for Schaeuble, Marco Semmelmann, said on Monday that worldwide Monetary Fund involvement was absolutely essential in the bailout, which was the culmination of six months of acrimonious negotiations that almost resulted in Greece crashing out of the euro.