Bundestag backs Greek extension. (It was the biggest majority for a eurozone bailout)

Germany's parliament approved an extension of Greece's bailout on Friday but a record number of dissenters from Angela Merkel's conservatives underscored growing skepticism in Berlin about whether a new Greek government can be trusted to deliver on its reform pledges.

With Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble promising not to let Greece "blackmail" its eurozone partners, 542 members of the Bundestag voted "yes" to the extension, while 32 opposed it and 13 abstained.

It was the biggest majority for a eurozone bailout since the crisis erupted five years ago, in part because Merkel's year-old "grand coalition" enjoys a dominant position in the Bundestag lower house.

But 29 of the 32 "no" votes came from Merkel's Christian Democrats and their sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union, more conservative rebels than any other lower house vote.

"We Germans should do everything to keep Europe together," said Schaeuble, a ­political veteran who has clashed repeatedly with the new leftist government in Athens, notably his Greek counterpart Yanis Varoufakis.

The parliamentary debate showed widespread misgivings about Greece. The broader German population has also grown more skeptical since Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took power in January, with a poll recently showing only 21 percent back an extension.

Top-selling German daily Bild staged a front-page campaign for a "NEIN!" in the Bundestag vote, the only big parliamentary hurdle in Europe for the extension.

"Patience and ­readiness to show solidarity with Greece is coming to an end," read a front-page editorial in the ­conservative ­Frankfurter ­Allgemeine Zeitung news­paper titled "The Danger."........Reuters................http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/909355.shtml
27/2/15
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• Germany's parliament has approved a four-month extension of Greece's financial bailout, despite unease over the new government in Athens.

Greece was granted the extension by its European creditors on Friday in exchange for a commitment to budget reforms.

"This is not about new billions for Greece, not about changing this programme," Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble assured parliament ahead of the vote.

"It's about providing additional time to complete this programme successfully," the finance minister said.

Lawmakers voted 542-32 to back the bailout extension. There were 13 abstentions.
Germany is among the countries that needed to approve the deal in its national parliament.
Comments by Greek officials casting doubt on their promise to privatization deals and raising the possibility of further debt relief had irked some in Germany in the run-up to the vote.
AP
aljazeera.com
27/2/15