Greece bailout extension approved by German parliament

Germany's parliament overwhelmingly approved a four-month extension of Greece's bailout on Friday, despite unease over the new government in Athens.

Lawmakers voted 542-32 to back the bailout extension. There were 13 abstentions.

Earlier this week, Greece was granted the extension by its European creditors in exchange for a commitment to budget reforms. Germany was among the countries that needed to approve the deal in its national parliament.

Addressing public misgivings in Germany about making further concessions to Greece, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said no new financial aid was at stake.

"This is not about new billions for Greece, not about changing this program," Schaeuble assured parliament ahead of the vote. "It's about providing additional time to complete this program successfully."

There are widespread misgivings in Germany about granting the Greeks more time, with one poll this week showing that only 21 percent of Germans back an extension for Greece.

"Look at Tsipras, look at Varoufakis: would you buy a used car from them?" asked Klaus-Peter Wilsch, one of a small group of dissidents from Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), referring to the Greek prime minister and finance minister. 

Comments by Greek officials casting doubt on privatization deals and raising the possibility of further debt relief had irked some in Germany in the run-up to the vote.

But Schaeuble said that "we Germans should do everything to keep Europe together and bring it together, as far as we can." Germany, a key creditor nation, has been among the strongest advocates of strict austerity measures for Greece that accompanied the bailout. Though they are deeply unpopular in Greece, Schaeuble and insisted that any aid must come with such strings attached.

He told lawmakers Friday that the eurozone is on the right track. "We must stick to this course and we must say to our colleagues in Greece that, with all respect for voters' decision in Greece, Greece alone cannot decide in Europe what the right path is."

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who led the winning Syriza party in Jan. 25 elections, promised to scrap bailout agreements and supervision, and demand a massive write-down of Greece's $272 billion bailout debt.

However, his government has backed off key demands and secured a bailout extension by pledging a series of policy measures including adherence to certain reforms. Still, Tsipras has painted the four-month extension deal as a win for Greece, putting it on a path away from the deep spending cuts that Athens says hampered the country’s economic fortunes.

Meanwhile, while Merkel and Schaeuble's tough stance on Greece goes down well with German voters, the eurozone crisis has created space for a new Euroskeptic party to the right of the CDU/CSU, the fast-growing Alternative for Germany.

Its leader Bernd Lucke wants Greece kicked out of euro and said extending the bailout was "a bad decision for Germany and for Greece ... because economic misery in Greece will continue.”

Al Jazeera and wire services