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German lawmakers on Wednesday approved a third bailout package for Greece, despite substantial opposition within its parliament.

The country is due to contribute some 10.1 billion euros ($11.14 billion) of the 86 billion-euro package for Greece.

The bailout was in “the interests of Greece and Europe”, Schaeuble told the Bundestag.

“If we don’t find a solution, we will have to do bridge financing”, he said, referring to a short-term loan so Greece can make its next debt payment on August 20.

German lawmakers voted in favor of a third Greek bailout on Wednesday despite a record rebellion among Chancellor Angela Merkel’s own conservatives that suggested she would struggle to return to parliament to seek any further aid for Athens.

While it is likely that the Bundestag will pass the measures in line with the eurozone and the German cabinet, several lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are expected to break ranks and vote against Greece’s third 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.

When the Parliament last voted in July on opening new bailout negotiations with the leftist-led government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, 60 of Merkel’s MPs went against her. In a test vote on Tuesday ahead of the debate, 56 members of her bloc voted against the package...

A breakdown showing the number of dissenters within Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat-led bloc was scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

But the bailout is conditional on Greece imposing stringent spending cuts and tax hikes – the very measures Tsipras won elections in January vowing to repeal.

“He said he was forced to do so because a majority of Greeks wanted to stay in the eurozone, and this could not be achieved in any other way. The move to go to elections allows Tsipras to clarify things, and to separate his government from the dissidents”, commented...

Interrupting their holidays for the second time this summer to cast ballots on a Greek rescue, lawmakers in the Bundestag lower house approved the rescue plan by 453 votes to 113.

The German parliament has approved a third bailout deal for Greece by a large margin.

A significant minority of Merkel’s conservatives may vote against the €86bn bailout, sending the government a warning that the latest package is its last chance to keep debt-ridden Greece in the 19-country euro zone.

This means the country would not get its debt pile down to 120pc of GDP – long viewed by the global Monetary Fund (IMF) as the target to get Athens back to a sustainable debt level – until 2030, two decades after the country’s first bail-out.