The German parliament has backed the latest €86bn (£60bn) Greek bailout, opening the way for the immediate release of funds to help Athens pay debts, refinance its banks and support reforms.
FTAdviser sister paper the Financial Times reported that the Bundestag voted 454 to 113 in favour of the deal, with 18 MPs abstaining and 46 staying away.
This followed last week’s Greek parliamentary vote approving the rescue package, following fractious all night negotiations between the ruling party’s various factions.
In Germany, chancellor Angela Merkel also suffered the biggest parliamentary rebellion of her reign, with 63 members of the Christian Democratic Union and Bavarian sister party the CSU voting against, with three abstaining.
German parliamentary approval allows the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s rescue fund, to pay out a first tranche of money in time for Greece to make a crucial €3.2bn (£2.25bn) debt repayment to the European Central Bank on Thursday.
The Dutch parliament was also reportedly set to support the Greek bailout, after the governing liberal party said it would back the package despite its “many doubts”.
Support from the Dutch prime minister’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy had been in doubt going into today’s debate in The Hague.
peter.walker@ft.com
