FRANKFURT (MNI) – European Central Bank Governing Council member
Axel Weber will testify before the German parliament’s Budget Committee
on Wednesday, the Bundesbank, which Weber heads, confirmed Tuesday.
The topic of the hearing will be the law required to enable German
funds to flow to Greece as part of the latter’s E110 billion three-year
bailout package recently agreed on by Greece, the International Monetary
Fund and the European Commission, in liaison with the ECB.
The hearing begins at 8:30 GMT, according to the parliament’s
website.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed yesterday that Germany
would loan, via its state-owned KfW bank, E8.4 billion to fiscally
embattled Greece this year and a total of E22.4 billion over the
three-year life of the agreement.
The law must, however, still be approved by Germany’s parliament,
the Bundestag. Given that Merkel’s CDU/CSU bloc and its coalition
partner FDP have a parliamentary majority, it is widely expected that
the body will approve the bill.
Thereafter, Germany’s upper house, the Bundesrat must approve. Both
houses are expected to pass the bill by Friday, after which the
country’s federal president is expected to sign the bill, making it law.
–Frankfurt bureau; +49-69-720142; frankfurt@marketnews.com
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