BERLIN (MNI) – Germany’s largest opposition party, the center-left
SPD, said Thursday that it will not vote for the government’s bill on
financial aid for Greece tomorrow after all.
SPD parliamentary leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the
government had declined his party’s request to pass a resolution in
parliament on introducing a financial transaction tax.
Thus, the SPD will advise its parliamentarians to abstain from
voting for the government’s Greece aid bill, Steinmeier explained. Only
this morning the SPD had still signaled that it might support the bill.
Both the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, and the
Bundesrat, the upper house representing the 16 states, will vote on the
Greek aid bill tomorrow. Merkel’s CDU/CSU-FDP coalition, in principle,
does not need the votes of the opposition because it wields majorities
in both houses.
Senior CDU/CSU parliamentarians on Thursday reaffirmed that they
were convinced the coalition would find a majority for its Greek aid
bill even without the help of the opposition.
However, the government has said it would like to win a broad
majority for the bill because that would send a stronger signal to
financial markets.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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