Greek bailout: Germany approves extension; Tsipras outlines next steps - as it happened
The Bundestag has voted to extend Greece's aid programme by four months by a big majority, after hearing that Greece must meets its commitments
- Latest: Alexis Tsipras addresses cabinet
- Bailout extension approved
- But 29 CDU/CSU MPs rebel against Merkel
- Debate coverage starts here
- German MP attacks Bild's "Nein" campaign
- Die Linke: Southern Europe needs a Marshall Plan
6.54pm GMT
And finally, here are some photos from tonight's anti-government demonstration in Athens.
The demo tonight is a warning shot over the bows of the government that there will be mass protests if it goes too far.
6.52pm GMT
And before the cameras in the cabinet room are switched off, Alexis Tsipras declares:
"The country has come out of this difficult and hard process of real negotiation stronger and more proud."
6.35pm GMT
Alexis Tsipras may be offering Greece some sugar, before the yuckier medicine prescribed by its creditors.
As our own Helena Smith tweets:
#Greece the new gov is moving quickly to enact feel-good legislation w pm #AlexisTsipras announcing bills 2night. Painful reforms come next
6.32pm GMT
Tsipras has also promised an investigation into how Greece was forced into its bailouts. Although the question is, how far back to you go?....
And the a-entry presumably? MT @YanniKouts: Greece PM Tsipras says will launch parliamentary probe into the circumstances of Greek bailouts
6.23pm GMT
Alexis Tsipras has allowed the TV cameras into the cabinet room in Athens tonight, as he outlines his government's plans.
He's pledging to bring legislation to parliament next week to enact some of the reforms announced this week.
tsipras says greece comes away from talks having regained its dignity & equality. calls it a "bridge-agreement" to talks on debt reduction.
tsipras: what we have before us is an obligation to begin some sweeping reforms.
tsipras says the government's first legislation, to be submitted to parliament monday, will deal with greece's humanitarian crisis.
tsipras says bill will provide for free electricity and food for those in need.
govt will also submit legislation with favorable terms for settling tax debts and arrears to social insurance funds.
tsipras says legislation to be submitted to protect primary residence from foreclosure for homes with objective value up to 300,000 euros
greek public television ert will also be restored but without burdening state budget, says tsipras.
5.53pm GMT
Outside parliament, Greece's communists are valiantly pressing on with their demonstration despite the inclement weather. No point getting soggy, though:
Lenin would have never sheltered under an umbrella: #Greece's Communist KKE leader rails against govt pic.twitter.com/iEsetjmMF5 via @miltostr
5.46pm GMT
Alexis Tsipras is holding a cabinet meeting tonight to discuss the government's next move:
IIIIIIIfI II I...III...II^3I^1II IfI...I1/4I^2IIII^1I - III IIIIIII II^1 IIIIII III1/4IIIII^1III IIIII1/4I^2IIfII^1I III II...I^2IIIIIfII pic.twitter.com/o9uWN3FY03
5.24pm GMT
Despite the rain, demonstrators are now massing outside the Greek parliament:
Large turnout at Communist rally outside parliament #Greece pic.twitter.com/pxVB976AO6
5.08pm GMT
The chants of KKE communist party protesters are wafting through central Athens, reports Helena Smith, as they march through the city centre on their way up Syntagma square where tonight's "anti-loan" rally is due to take place.
It has been raining hard in the Greek capital and only the hardiest are expected to attend the demonstration called to denounce the leftist-led government's climbdown in Brussels last week.
4.31pm GMT
Investors are still pricing in a high chance that Greece's debts will be 'restructured':
#Greece's 5yr default probability rises again above 70% despite Piraeus Bank denies reports of cash shortage. pic.twitter.com/0t53LowbYC
4.19pm GMT
The Greek media has been rather taken by what some are describing as the liveliest display of support yet for the crisis plagued country abroad, reports Helena Smith in Athens.
Three bare-chested women - former activists of the Femen group - have caused a bit of commotion outside the Berlin offices of Bild protesting against the mass-selling tabloid's "no to greedy Greeks" campaign launched earlier this week.
The semi-naked protestors had written Ja (Yes) and "Free Greece" in blue paint across their bodies. They then went on to dance the famous Greek Syrtaki while throwing back copious amounts of ouzo. "We wanted to show another face. Not just to German citizens but to the Greek people," one was quoted as saying.
Bild tries to offset negatve publicity ovr 'Nein' to Greece campaign w an editorial: "We empathize w the Greeks!" http://t.co/5N8u3w2Rp3 LOL
4.12pm GMT
Meanwhile in Athens, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has been meeting with one of the new wave of European politicians, German Green MEP Ska Keller.
4.03pm GMT
Greece is being deliberately starved of liquidity in an effort to get its reform plans motoring, according to Reuters this afternoon.
Even though the Bundestag has approved the extension, Greece has little hope of getting any funding until it has satisfied its creditors, they say, quoting Brussels sources.
Shut out of debt markets and faced with a steep fall in tax revenues, Athens is expected to run out of cash by the middle or end of March. Its finance minister has warned that Greece will struggle to repay creditors starting with a 1.5bn euro IMF loan repayment due in March.
Athens has been looking for quick fixes to tide it through the coming weeks but has not found one yet.
The day Schaeuble claims that you cannot blackmail in the eurozone, EU official explains offers #Greece can't refuse http://t.co/oEitaLyxXJ
This or default MT @Hugodixon I think Greek T-bill limit will ultimately be lifted, but only if Tsipras keeps up reform pace in next few wks
2.05pm GMT
In the US, revised figures showed GDP rose at an annualised rate of 2.2% (revised from 2.6%) in the fourth quarter, down sharply from 5% in the previous quarter. However economists were expecting a slowdown to 2.1%.
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said:
The slowdown is unlikely to worry Fed policymakers, however, who are likely to 'keep calm and carry on' with contemplating an initial rate hike in the summer, possibly as early as June.
One reason for the lack of concern is that the slowdown was due in part to a far smaller than previously estimated inventory build-up, in turn thought to be partly due to port strikes. The weaker stock build-up late last year bodes well for first quarter growth.
1.57pm GMT
In a closely watched auction, Greece plans to sell a875m of six-month treasury bills next Wednesday to refinance a maturing issue. Greek banks use T-bills as collateral to borrow from the ECB's emergency liquidity line and then invest the money in more T-bills. This helps the government, which is frozen out of the bond markets, to cover its short-term needs.
Foreign investors have shied away from T-bill sales in recent months. They are the only source of commercial borrowing for Tsipras' government.
1.45pm GMT
Over in Athens, government sources are saying that prime minister Alexis Tsipras will unveil five pieces of legislation to be brought before parliament next week when his cabinet meets at 7:30pm tonight.
Helena Smith reports that the bills will:
1.31pm GMT
So far, the EFSF has handed a141.bn in financial assistance to Greece. The last loan tranche, another a1.8bn, is available through June if the final review is successfully completed.
1.28pm GMT
It's official: The European Financial Stability Facility's board of directors has extended the Greece bailout until June 30, says EFSF chief Klaus Regling. Read the full statement here.
1.17pm GMT
#Greece's economy shrank by 0.4% in last quarter of 2014, revised to be a bigger contraction than the initial -0.2% in GDP via @BBCBusiness
12.20pm GMT
The Greek government may be nervous of exposing splits within Syriza by holding a vote on the bailout extension, but failing to hold a vote will not look great:
Failing to put bailout extension deal to Greek parliament would be unwise and undemocratic #tripras
If bailout ext goes to parliament it'll pass by opposition votes. If it doesn't it can be dubbed 'undemocratic'- A test for #Syriza #Greece
12.05pm GMT
Another update from Helena Smith in Athens:
Angst over the pending funding gap is VERY real. Government figures show that tax revenues have dropped precipitously (22.5%) as a result of the political turmoil gripping the country. Greeks have simply stopped paying. The country's former deputy premier Evangelos Venizelos has just made a statement saying rather than conducting real negotiations, the new leftist-led government is waging a "war of impressions,"
"The country is in a strategic vacuum. Just one month after the election everything is in the air. Revenues, cash requirements, fiscal targets. How will the fiscal gap that exists be plugged? Where are we going regarding the debt? Sadly our array of negotiating mistakes has taken us way off from the point we were when the parliament was dissolved," he said referring to the day snap polls were called in December.
12.02pm GMT
#bundestag #grexit merkel's biggest majority on greece.but also biggest rebellion in her ranks while linke votes for syriza pals, also a 1st
11.55am GMT
Apparently 29 CDU/CSU MPs voted against extending Greece's bailout, the biggest rebellion among Angela Merkel's bloc yet.
Bundestag Greece vote. The stats are in: 29 CDU/CSU voted no (including a former minister). Up from 13 CDU/CSU no votes over 2nd bailout.
While Greek bailout extension was passed in Bundestag by record margin for a euro vote, a record number of CDU/CSU MPs, 29, voted against
11.22am GMT
The FT's Jeeven Vasagar reckons Angela Merkel has suffered a "substantial rebellion", with 32 German MPs voting against giving Greece more time.
He writes:
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel faced dissent over her eurozone rescue policy on Friday after 32 legislators voted against extending Greece's bailout.
While the four-month extension passed with a comfortable majority of 542 out of 587 lawmakers in the Bundestag who voted, there was a substantial rebellion within Ms Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and sister party the Christian Social Union. There were 13 abstentions.
Merkel now faces serious dissent from her party over Greece. How will it go in next vote, when stakes are higher? http://t.co/Wglpmo9hf8
11.16am GMT
Back in Greece, finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has caused quite a stir this morning by revealing that he was deliberately abstruse about targets and numbers in the list of reforms Athens proposed this week (Helena Smith writes).
"I use the term creative vagueness. I want to be the first minister of finance who will never refer to a number if I am not sure that I will attain it."
"If we wanted real freedom from Europe, we would have to exit the euro but that would be catastrophic."
11.00am GMT
A quick explainer:
The Bundestag vote means that Greece now has until the end of June to satisfy its lenders, and receive the final payment from its bailout programme, worth a7.2bn.
10.44am GMT
Our Europe editor sees ructions ahead:
#bundestag #grexit next time it votes on 3rd bailout (+debt forgiveness/repackaging?) will be a bit more interesting
10.42am GMT
Just as the German parliament was voting to extend Greece's loan agreement, prime minister Alexis Tsipras was convening a meeting of his entire economics team at his office.
From Athens, Helena Smith reports:
Insiders are saying that the "emergency" talks Tsipras has called with his economic team are focusing on two things:
" 1) The financing gap that Greece faces imminently (it has to service IMF loans, which expire in March, of just under a2bn euro and has to redeem short-term debt amounting to a21.8bn by the end of June).
The fact that Germans approved this deal 542 votes v 32 and syriza cant even agree on whether there shd be a vote in Gr tells you who "won"
10.39am GMT
#Bundestag huge majority extends greek bailout. but 45 against or abstained must almost all have come from merkel cdu/csu ranks
10.35am GMT
This is the biggest majority for any vote on eurozone bailouts since the crisis began, reports Germany's Spiegel news magazine.
Bundestag's approval of Greek bailout extension passed by largest margin of any eurozone crisis related vote to date (h/t @SPIEGELONLINE)
10.28am GMT
So, a pretty resounding majority in favour of the bailout extension - we don't yet know who the rebels are, though.
CLOSE. *mops brow* RT @YanniKouts #BREAKING #Germany | Bundestag MPs vote for extension of #Greece's programme with 542 Yes, 32 against.
10.25am GMT
The Bundestag voted overwhelmingly in favour of the four-month extension of the Greek bailout. Of 587 votes cast,
542 - yes
10.21am GMT
Meanwhile in Greece, a spoof video clip hailing the charms of their finance minister has caused quite a stir.
Athens correspondent Helena Smith reports:
It got an airing on SKAI's flagship news programme last night and is doing the rounds of social media like wild-fire. The one person who has NOT commented on it is Yanis Varoufakis himself. Recently the Greek finance minister told me that he didn't have time to follow what the global media was saying of him.
"I've always had a healthy contempt for the media, especially the awful tabloid media, and whether they celebrate or disparage me, it doesn't matter. I really don't care. The media pulls you up and then they dump [on] you. The more you rise, the harder the fall but it doesn't bother me at all. I am ready for it " the star system was always very low in my list of priorities (many might dispute that...)."
Every time we thought we'd reached the top another peak of Yanis was perceived in the distance -- https://t.co/b40I83Ohjp
10.14am GMT
It is not clear when we will get the result. Watch this space.
10.12am GMT
Voting live in German Parliament on Greek extension follow at http://t.co/pliZymsUQr #Greece pic.twitter.com/H7abr0XxsE
10.10am GMT
They are counting the votes.
10.08am GMT
The debate is finally over, and MPs are voting right now:
10.00am GMT
The debate is nearly over. MPs will vote on the Greek bailout extension shortly.
9.59am GMT
In a lively debate in the German parliament, Thorsten Frei, of the CDU/CSU, hits back at the previous speakers from his party. He says this is not about approving a new bailout, but about seeing the existing Greek bailout through to its successful conclusion.
9.50am GMT
As an update, German MPs still debating in the lower house, expecting a vote around 1015GMT...
9.45am GMT
Klaus-Peter Willsch of the conservative CDS/CSU group is against extending the Greek bailout.
He argues that Greece needs to crack on with reforms. Noting the high rate of youth unemployment, he deplores that labour costs in Greece are still twice as high as in Poland and Slovenia. Would you buy a used car from Tsipras or Varoufakis, he asks.
Better an end with terror than terror without an end.[i.e. It's best to get unpleasant things over and done with.]
Greece doesn't need a Marshall plan. Greece [already] has a Marshall plan.
Solidarity is not a one-way street.
9.37am GMT
Schifer calls for mutual understanding, rather than provocative statements (this is partly aimed at his parliamentary colleagues). He stresses
There is no German diktat for Athens. There is a debate.
9.34am GMT
Holding up a copy of mass daily Bild's "Nein!" page, Axel Schifer of the SPD says:
We do not support campaigns against other countries.
9.27am GMT
CSU general secretary Andreas Scheuer calls on Greece "to deliver" (reforms).
9.23am GMT
The German parliamentary debate continues. Solidarity (in Europe) is today's watchword.
9.16am GMT
A quick recap from today's debate on Greece's aid package, now we've heard from all the main German political parties:
We're not talking about new billions for Greece, we're not talking about any changes to this programme - rather it's about providing or granting extra time to successfully end this programme.
Schneider: At some point we will have to debate about a new programme for Greece but this is not a matter for today, just the extension
This conflict is about the interests of a few super-rich people versus ordinary people in Greeks.
9.01am GMT
Brinkhaus also criticises the Greek government for inconsistency:
Brinkhaus: Not acceptable to sign something in Brussels and then go back to Athens and pretend something completely different has happened
9.00am GMT
"It's really bad if someone leaves the [euro] project," he concludes.
9.00am GMT
8.59am GMT
Brinkhaus says five countries received bailouts during the financial crisis, and regards four out of those five a success. Portugal said yesterday it would pay back its loans early.
This shows that it's worth saying yes sometimes. And even with Greece things didn't go too badly until December.
8.56am GMT
Angela Merkel is also in the chamber, sat alongside economy minister Sigmar Gabriel. He's next to foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier:
8.53am GMT
Ralph Brinkhaus of the ruling CDU/CSU (conservatives) is next. He stresses that Greece's problems were not caused by the troika but date back longer, and that Europe has been very generous in its help.
8.51am GMT
Hofreiter, of the Greens, says the litmus test is whether policies are helping ordinary Greeks. He adds that Greece should stay in Europe. If Greece regains some of its wealth there is a bigger chance it will repay its debts.
8.49am GMT
8.49am GMT
Hofreiter talks about the failure of Angela Merkel's and Wolfgang Schiuble's European policies. We need a European policy based on solidarity, he contends. He adds:
This conflict is about the interests of a few super-rich people versus ordinary people in Greeks.
8.45am GMT
Anton Hofreiter of the Greens is now speaking.
8.45am GMT
Schneider says:
We support growth, help to self-help and more social justice. But it must be clear that those who who have earned a lot and have wealth in Greece must pay.
It's now up the Greeks themselves, we are extending our hands to them.
8.39am GMT
8.39am GMT
Schneider: We are still paying for the mistake made by Papandreou when he offered a referendum in 2011
8.38am GMT
Greece is not paying interest on its debt any more, Schneider says. [That is true, because of the restructuring.] It is important for the Greeks to realise they can help themselves.
Schneider: The interest rates Greeks pay are lower than in France and Portugal and not much higher than in Germany
8.36am GMT
Schiuble said earlier that "it's not easy to make this decision" (on the bailout extension). Schneider of the SPD says he feels similar.
8.34am GMT
The Bundestag debate is due to last 105 minutes, followed by a vote on the bailout extension until 30 June for Greece. It started on time at 8am GMT.
8.32am GMT
Carsten Schneider of the SPD (Social Democrats) is next.
8.31am GMT
The Left party supports the four-month bailout extension for Greece to give the country "breathing space and the chance for a fresh start," Gysi says, ending his statement.
8.30am GMT
Gysi of the German Left party contends:
We need a Marshall plan for southern Europe.
8.29am GMT
90% of the bailout money is going to French and German banks, Gysi says.
8.24am GMT
8.24am GMT
Here's Bloomberg's early take on Schiuble's speech:
#Germany's Schiuble calls on lawmakers to vote for Greek extension. Says solidarity means everybody must make a contribution. (BBG)
#Schaeuble says new Greek program is not about 'New Billions'; Current program payments won't be made without German approval
8.24am GMT
Gregor Gysi, who heads up the parliamentary group of the Left party, is up next.
The newly elected left-wing government in Greece has called an end to cuts and austerity, he says. He describes it as a "kamikaze policy," which led to high youth unemployment and recession. Syriza is the first government in Europe that has challenged neoliberal policies, he asserts.
With this kind of policy debts will never be repaid.
There is no logic. We must help rebuild Greece, so it can repay its debts.
8.20am GMT
8.18am GMT
France has implemented important structural reforms and Italy is on track to make good decisions, the German finance minister says. Greece within Europe cannot decide alone what the right path is. That concludes his statement. There is a lot of applause from MPs.
8.16am GMT
But, he says in a veiled dig at the new Greek government:
Solidarity doesn't mean that you can blackmail each other.
8.15am GMT
8.15am GMT
Schiuble says Europe must stand together and makes an oblique reference to WWII. Applause from MPs.
We Germans must do everything to keep Europe together.
8.14am GMT
Schiuble says it will take Greece longer than other countries to win back the trust of financial markets. But he adds:
Greece has to do its bit. Solidarity has something to do with reliability.
8.12am GMT
8.11am GMT
Schiuble is explaining that Greece is simply being given more time to complete its bailout measures, and that it cannot change the terms unilaterally.
8.09am GMT
Schiuble says:
We are all democracies. Greece produced a clear vote [when it elected the Syriza government].
8.05am GMT
8.02am GMT
The Bundestag session has started. The finance minister, Wolfgang Schiuble, speaks first. He stresses that the four-month bailout extension is NOT about new billions of euros for Greece or changes to the bailout. Applause from German MPs
7.54am GMT
You can watch the Bundestag debate live here. It will start in a few minutes.
7.51am GMT
A large majority of Germans, across the political spectrum, doubt that Greece will implement its reform programme.
While the Bundestag is about to approve Greek loan extension, almost 3/4 of the Germans doubt reform implementation. pic.twitter.com/SBzhvj3gsU
7.46am GMT
Germany's opposition Green party has also pledged to support Greece in today's vote:
@YanniKouts @sven_kindler Almost whole Bundestag will, even most from Left - overwhelming yes-vote, but a no-mood with Christian Democrats.
7.41am GMT
There was isolated violence in the Greek capital last night, for the first time since last month's general election.
"Dozens of activists hurled petrol bombs and stones at police and set cars alight after the march.
About 450 far-left protesters took to the streets of Athens on Thursday to voice their anger.
@graemewearden No clashes. Police kept distance. Six bus stops vandalised, four broken store-bank fronts + 2 cars + 3 trash bins torched
@graemewearden @Thalion_1 Was in Exarhia around 8:30,drove near the Polytechnic.Police in the streets but quiet.Don't know abt earlier/later
7.38am GMT
Even Germany's president Joachim Gauck has waded into the Greece debate and come out in support of the four-month bailout extension. (Like the Queen, the German president traditionally stays above the political fray).
Gauck,75, told radio station MDR: "The parliament is willing to take responsibility and is taking on the issue with great seriousness."
7.29am GMT
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of Greece's debt crisis and other developments across the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
Wolfgang Schiuble, the finance minister, told Merkel's backbenchers that the new Greek government was manipulating eurozone largesse to "trample all over European solidarity", Der Spiegel reported.
The Germans expect the Greeks, beneficiaries of a a240bn (175bn) rescue, to be grateful. Instead they are seen to be impertinent. No sooner was the ink dry on the deal on Tuesday granting Athens a 17-week loan extension than its finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, upped the ante and demanded the massive debt burden be partly written off.
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