by Birgit JennenRainer BuerginBrian Parkin
June 8,
2015 — 7:16 PM EEST Updated on June 9, 2015 — 12:40 PM EEST
Bloomberg
A split
between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble
is widening over Greece
as the funding standoff goes down to the wire, said people familiar with the
matter.
Merkel is
ready to make concessions to keep Greece in the euro because of geopolitical
concerns, while Schaeuble is willing to let the country exit the euro unless
its government takes measures to ensure the country’s long-term survival in the
monetary union, said the people, who asked not be identified speaking about
internal party discussions.
That divide
is also reflected in Merkel’s parliamentary caucus, which is increasingly
uneasy with letting the 41-member budget committee decide on disbursing any aid
and is looking instead at a vote of the lower house of parliament on a deal
that includes alterations to previous agreements, they said.
“If there
are changes, which surely is what we have to assume, then the Bundestag as a
whole would have to vote again,” Michael Grosse-Broemer, chief parliamentary
whip for the Christian Democratic Union, told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday. “This can’t just be left
to the budget committee.”
Marginal
Risk
While Merkel
has repeatedly said she’ll keep working to allow Greece to stay in the euro area,
Schaeuble has emphasized that the contagion risk from the country possibly
exiting the bloc is “marginal.” The Finance Ministry declined to comment on the
internal deliberations and referred to statements last week by spokesmen for
the two who said they’re working together closely on the crisis.
Many
lawmakers in Merkel’s 311-strong parliamentary group made up of the CDU and
Bavarian Christian Social Union are finding it difficult to support the
chancellor’s position and would side with Schaeuble if forced to choose, the
people said.
“All of us
who were at the table want Greece
to stay in the euro area,” Merkel said Monday after hosting the Group of Seven
summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria .
“There isn’t much time left, that’s the problem.”
Some within
her caucus are discussing whether Merkel would need to tie any decision on the
bailout program to a confidence vote to rally lawmakers behind her, one of the
people said. Any agreement that doesn’t spell out binding reform obligations
wouldn’t be accepted even among those siding with Merkel, the people said.
Lawmakers
from all coalition parties, including the Social Democrats, want time to
scrutinize any proposal and therefore would object to a last-minute vote in
Germany’s lower house of parliament at the end of the month, the last week the
Bundestag is in session before the summer break, one person said.
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