German parliament approves Greek bailout

Germany's parliament overwhelmingly approved a third bailout for Greece on Wednesday — a key step in providing new loans to the country and keeping it from defaulting on its debts in as little as 24 hours.

There had been speculation that Chancellor Angela Merkel would have difficulty getting her conservative bloc to sign on. Lawmakers approved the measure 454-113, with 18 abstentions.

The approval is among the last required from parliaments across Europe, with the Netherlands scheduled to vote later Wednesday, after which Greece is expected to get the first installment of its new $95 billion loan package.

The country needs the money to make a debt repayment on Thursday. The board of the European bailout fund that will disburse the money will hold a teleconference Wednesday night to discuss the matter.

German approval was never in doubt, but in a similar vote last month, 60 members of Merkel's conservative bloc voted against the bailout, and some local media speculated that even more could rebel this time, as Germans are increasingly skeptical about giving Greece more money.

Though a party breakdown of the vote was not immediately available, the result suggested that if anything, more of Merkel's lawmakers voted in line with her recommendation.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, a senior member of Merkel's Christian Democratic Party who has been one of the harshest critics of Greece, may have helped the cause, since he lobbied hard before the vote for passage of the bailout, Greece's third in five years.

Schäuble told lawmakers that approval of the three-year loan package is "in the interest of Greece and the interest of Europe." He noted that the Greek government has taken big steps over the past few weeks to restore trust with its creditors.

He conceded that voting in favor of the bailout wasn't an easy one for him but that "it would be irresponsible to not use the chance for a new beginning in Greece," given that the Greek parliament has backed a large chunk of reform measures demanded by creditors.

Germany is the largest single contributor to the bailouts, and many in Schäuble's party remain skeptical. Merkel's coalition partner, the Social Democrats, and the opposition Greens also backed the deal.

In the Netherlands, lawmakers interrupted their summer recess to debate the Dutch government's support for the bailout.

Geert Wilders, an anti-Islam lawmaker who is a staunch opponent of the European Union and financial support for Greece, opened the debate by calling Prime Minister Mark Rutte “the Pinocchio of the Low Countries” for breaking an election pledge not to approve another bailout.

Rutte does not need parliament's support to sign off on the bailout but is unlikely to do so without support of a majority of lawmakers. Before the debate, Rutte's party said it grudgingly supports the bailout, as does coalition partner the Labor Party and pro-European party Democrats 66, giving the government a comfortable majority in the 150-seat legislature.

Under the terms of the bailout deal, Greece has to impose further spending cuts and tax increases and implement big reforms to its economy — a continuation of harsh austerity measures that many Greeks blame for the country’s ongoing economic malaise.

Schäuble laid out his hope that the bailout will help turn the Greek economy around. Greece has spent much of the past six years in recession. Its economy is about a quarter smaller than it was, and that has pushed unemployment and poverty rates sharply higher.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is mulling whether to call a vote of confidence in his government after a big rebellion among many in his leftist Syriza party over the terms of the bailout, which they see as a surrender to German-led creditor nations’ demands. There’s also growing talk in Greece that Tsipras may opt for early elections as soon as next month now that the bailout deal is in place.

Syriza came to power in January on a promise to bring an end to the hated austerity measures that have been the condition for two previous bailouts. But after months of tortuous discussions with creditors, he reluctantly announced a U-turn so the country could get the money to keep Greece's financial system afloat and remain a member of the 19-country eurozone.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press