“German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing a growing number of critics in her own party to her debt- crisis policies, potentially hindering a European compromise on the firewall to limit contagion from Greece.
Three lawmakers in Merkel’s bloc defied party leaders to reject the Greek bailout on Feb. 27 after voting to strengthen the rescue fund in September. Merkel depended on the opposition to push through the 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) package due to defectors in her caucus, made up of the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.
“My support is not without its limits,” Paul Lehrieder, a CSU lawmaker from the baroque Bavarian city of Wuerzburg who switched to oppose the Greek bailout, said in an interview. “I admire the strength with which the chancellor fights, but I just can’t support this program.”
European finance ministers meet March 30-31 to decide reinforcing the financial firewall against the crisis by allowing the temporary rescue fund to run together with the 500 billion-euro permanent European Stability Mechanism when it comes into force in July. German officials, including Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, have resisted international calls to expand the ESM to safeguard Spain and Italy.
All three flip-floppers in the CDU/CSU caucus cited doubts that the Greek government can carry out reforms demanded as a condition for the rescue. Two of the three distinguished between that ballot and their Sept. 29 “yes” votes, which expanded the scope of the temporary European Financial Stability Facility….”
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