Friday, July 17, 2015

Greece: Merkel faces a doubling of slingers … – Les Echos

She was greeted with a bouquet of flowers and congratulations from his colleagues. It is probably emerged with a mixture of relief and disappointment. Angela Merkel, who is celebrating its 61 years, lamented more than 60 votes from his own camp in the Bundestag against the opening of formal negotiations between the euro area and the Greek Government in favor of a new program by 86 billion euros. Without aid, Greece could fall “into chaos and violence,” warned the Chancellor in a speech extolling the stability and European solidarity.

At the last vote on Greece in late February, 29 members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian ally (CSU) had protested against the extension of the previous aid program. Doubling the number of slingers represents a setback for the chancellor. Thursday evening, during a blank vote conducted at the end of a long debate, 48 members of his parliamentary group had opposed the opening of negotiations on the basis of the agreement reached Monday morning in the snatch by heads of state and European government. There were twelve more in the Bundestag.



“unbearable conditions”

A total of 439 598 voters on 631 deputies in the Assembly, voted “yes” to the government’s request to negotiate the new aid. One hundred and nineteen members voted “no” and 40 abstained. Besides the CDU-CSU, five deputies abstained, rising number of opponents is closely linked to the vote radical left party Die Linke, the bulk of the 64 deputies decided you against the very principle of this program. “The conditions of the new aid package is unbearable”, justified their leader Gregor Gysi.

Wolfgang Schäuble was overwhelmingly applauded when the Chancellor thanked him for his role in the negotiations. The Minister of Finance, who still defended Thursday the idea of ​​a Greek exit from the eurozone, against the path chosen by Angela Merkel, has never been popular. In an effort of reconciliation, the Chancellor sat twenty minutes beside him in the Bundestag. Their body language spoke volumes. While she was looking for dialogue, leaning toward him, the minister closed face barely deigned to answer him at first.

Criticized by the opposition, which accuses him of wanting “destroy the idea of ​​Europe” – a reproach that touches the minister known for his European convictions – Wolfgang Schäuble stressed the lost trust between Athens and its creditors, in particular since the end of January election of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. “This is a last attempt to get out of this difficult situation,” he said about the negotiations that have yet to begin, adding that the decision to enter this phase was “not easy” for the government Germany.

France hailed the

Absent from the Bundestag, France has been omnipresent in debates and widely praised for its constructive role in the negotiations with Athens. “Germany and France must maintain the unity of Europe and we sincerely thank the German chancellor and the French president” to be managed there, said Sigmar Gabriel, Vice Chancellor and leader of the Social Democratic Party ( SPD), who voted “yes” to almost unanimously. “I am relieved that Holland and gentlemen Renzi have taken the lead,” said Katrin Göring-Eckardt, head of the Greens.

Unlike his finance minister, Angela Merkel, who negotiated together with Francois Hollande in Brussels, Sunday and Monday, praised the Franco-German cooperation. “The goal is not to agree on all points, on the contrary, she said. Germany and France have often, not just in recent days, very different opinions. But the question is whether these opinions, which result from different perspectives, can find a synthesis “that other European countries may follow.

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