Germany’s parliamentary budget committee is to discuss paying the next tranche of aid to Greece next week and must decide if the disbursement needs the approval of the full house agreed on by euro zone finance ministers.
The junior partner in Angela Merkel’s coalition, Social Democrat Party (SPD), seek a full parliamentary debate on the 8.5 billion euro loan to Greece which would cause sharp division within Merkel’s conservative parliamentary group three months before the election, a Reuters report says.
SPD’s budget policy spokesman Johannes Kahrs said that the budget committee will only address the latest decision of the Eurogroup in its next weekly sitting.
“It is clearly uncomfortable for the (conservative) fraction that the IMF is not involved … even though (German finance minister Wolfgang) Schaeuble promised it would be.”
The IMF has said it would like to see some of Greece’s debts written off in order to participate in the bail-out deal, something that is not favored in Germany.
Some of Merkel’s own conservatives have in the past opposed aid to Greece. Sixty-three of the 309 members of Merkel’s conservative parliamentary group voted against the third bailout for Greece back in August 2015 — there were three abstentions in the vote.
Schaeuble has said a full debate on the credit lifeline in the lower house could lead to market uncertainty, the report concludes.
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