BERLIN (MNI) – Germany strongest opposition party, the center-left
SPD, will vote for the euro rescue bill if the government backs its
demands for tougher financial market regulation, SPD parliamentary
managing secretary Thomas Oppermann told German ZDF television on
Wednesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that Germany will push for
the introduction of a financial market transaction tax at the
international level.

“If we have the feeling that the [government] really wants to move
and fight for reasonable financial markets and the protection of
citizens, then we will vote for [the euro aid bill],” Oppermann
explained.

The SPD wants the government to push for a financial transaction
tax at the EU level “and if the UK does not go along, we should start
with it in the Eurozone,” the SPD official said.

Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, is to vote on
Germany’s share in the EU rescue plan this week, Volker Kauder, the
parliamentary leader of Merkel’s center-right CDU/CSU bloc, said
Tuesday.

Germany’s share in the E440 billion in loan guarantees from EU
states over three years is to be up to E123 billion plus up to 20% on
top in the case some countries opt out. This means, Germany’s full share
of the aid package could rise to around E148 billion in the worst case
scenario.

The CDU/CSU-FDP government coalition controls a majority in the
Bundestag, but earlier this month lost its majority in the Bundesrat
when the Merkel camp was defeated in state elections in North
Rhine-Westphalia.

However, it is unlikely that a new state government in North
Rhine-Westphalia will be formed soon, given that no party won an
outright majority. That means that if a vote took place in the next
weeks, Merkel could still bank on a majority in the upper house.

Moreover, Germany’s share of the loan guarantees for financially
troubled Eurozone countries foreseen under the European aid package will
come out of the federal budget. The Bundesrat can only delay federal
budget bills but not block them indefinitely.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

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