German parliament vote on Greek bailout expected Friday

BERLIN: The German parliament is expected to vote Friday on a bailout package for Greece hammered out in marathon talks in Brussels overnight, its speaker Norbert Lammert told AFP.
"It is indeed looking like Friday morning," Lammert said Monday when asked about the timetable.
He noted that any vote could only take place after Greece's parliament has approved a raft of economic reforms, required by Wednesday.
Assuming the reform package gets the green light from Athens, leaders of Germany's parliamentary groups would confer on Thursday on the eve of Friday's likely vote in the Bundestag, the lower house, Lammert said.
The Bundestag is already on its summer break but will reconvene to hold two votes on the aid package.
The first would be on giving a mandate to the government to enter into negotiations on the specifics of the aid package.
The second would approve the final deal once it has been worked out.
Chancellor Angela Merkel can count on a comfortable majority of 504 out of 631 seats with her "grand coalition" of conservatives and Social Democrats.
The two opposition parties, the environmentalist Greens and far-left Die Linke, are also likely to back the agreement. So, arithmetically, the outcome of the vote looks to be a done deal.
Politically, however, things are more complicated for Merkel. Within her Christian Union CDU/CSU parties, frustration with continued aid to Athens is mounting.
Around 30 conservative deputies voted "No" on a previous Greece rescue package last February and around 100 more said they would go no further.
If the number of opponents grew to anywhere near half of those in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, it would deal a heavy blow to Merkel, say commentators.
The popular chancellor told reporters in Brussels earlier, however, that she had no plans to link the Greece vote to a vote of confidence in her leadership. — AFP