German parliament has overwhelmingly approved the second financial bailout package for Greece, but delivered a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel by denying her for the first time a majority of her centre-right coalition parties in a crucial vote.
The Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, cleared the way for releasing Germany's share of the the 130-billion-euro ($170 billion) rescue package by endorsing yesterday evening a government legislation with 496 votes while 90 deputies voted against and five abstained in the 620-member house.
The deputies also agreed to release 24.4 billion euros left in the first financial rescue package of 110 euros for Greece, which was offered by the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May, 2010.
Parliamentary endorsement of the second bailout for the debt-ridden nation was certain after the two main opposition parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green party had pledged to vote for it even though they disapproved the government's handling of the euro zone debt crisis.
However, several "rebel" MPs in Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its coalition partner the Free Democratic Party (FDP), who are critical of the second bailout, carried out their threat to vote against it and robbed the ruling coalition of its own majority.
The legislation received only 304 votes from the coalition camp, seven votes short of 311 votes needed to pass it without the support of the opposition parties. All six previous legislations on euro zone bailout were passed with full backing of the coalition, which has a total of 330 MPs in the Bundestag.
The so-called "chancellor's majority" is not necessary to pass a legislation, but it has a symbolic value as a display of unity within the coalition.
Even though the vote has no direct impact on the stability of Merkel's government, it is bound to increase the strains within the coalition and to make it more vulnerable to attacks from the opposition.
Merkel will find it increasingly difficult to rally the support of all coalition MPs to pass future legislations on euro zone bailout in the Bundestag, especially for an upcoming vote on the euro zone's permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
