German parliament agrees to bailout

BOTH houses of the German parliament voted to contribute €22.4 billion to the €110bn joint eurozone IMF aid package for Greece after a stormy debate in the lower house.

Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that what they were witnessing was a battle between the markets and Europe’s governments, and she was determined to win.

She was supported by her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said it would be disastrous to risk a member of the eurozone becoming insolvent: “We must defend our common European currency… and at the same time defend the whole European project.”