German lawmakers fell in line behind Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday and gave the go-ahead to bailout talks with Greece, despite deep hostility among many to lending more money to a country they say does not deserve it.
Approval by Berlin, the preeminent power in the Eurozone, is indispensable to organizing an expected $94-billion rescue package for Athens in exchange for a punishing regime of further austerity and tax hikes. The 439-119 vote in the Bundestag to authorize bailout negotiations capped hours of debate during which one lawmaker likened Greece to a bottomless pit while others warned of Germany’s increasingly negative image abroad as the heartless taskmaster of Europe.