02:08Germany: Die Linke’s Gysi slams Bundestag debt policy ahead of Greek bailout vote
Die Linke MP Gregor Gysi criticised Germany's role in resolving the Europe's economic issues in recent time ahead of the Bundestag voting on the new €86 billion ($95 billion) Greek bailout in Berlin, Wednesday.
Gysi also slammed the recent revelation that German company Fraport AG, who own and run Frankfurt Airport and which itself is mostly owned by the German government, will pay €1.23bn euros ($1.37bn) for the rights to operate 14 Greek airports. This is the first privatisation scheme to come to fruition since Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced he would negate his views on the topic in a bid to secure the new bailout deal.
He added that Greece's sovereignty will be limited as a result of the deal, as fundamental rights, such as introducing draft bills into parliament, and independent bank operations are to be supervised by European institutions. "That is destroying parliamentary democracy. We can't collaborate on that, by no stretch of the imagination," the opposition politician said.
Concluding his statement Gysi reminded of the fact that Germany has not paid "a single euro" to Greece during the European crisis but is to be held accountable for the debts of Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece by 27 per cent, in case those states failed.
In Tuesday's mock ballot 60 MPs out of the 311- strong conservative bloc voted against or abstained from voting. However, this is some way off the 120 votes against and/or abstentions that were predicted in some polls. The vote itself is scheduled for 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT)
Spain, Estonia and Austria have already approved the bailout, while the Dutch parliament will vote later on Tuesday.
02:08Die Linke MP Gregor Gysi criticised Germany's role in resolving the Europe's economic issues in recent time ahead of the Bundestag voting on the new €86 billion ($95 billion) Greek bailout in Berlin, Wednesday.
Gysi also slammed the recent revelation that German company Fraport AG, who own and run Frankfurt Airport and which itself is mostly owned by the German government, will pay €1.23bn euros ($1.37bn) for the rights to operate 14 Greek airports. This is the first privatisation scheme to come to fruition since Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced he would negate his views on the topic in a bid to secure the new bailout deal.
He added that Greece's sovereignty will be limited as a result of the deal, as fundamental rights, such as introducing draft bills into parliament, and independent bank operations are to be supervised by European institutions. "That is destroying parliamentary democracy. We can't collaborate on that, by no stretch of the imagination," the opposition politician said.
Concluding his statement Gysi reminded of the fact that Germany has not paid "a single euro" to Greece during the European crisis but is to be held accountable for the debts of Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Greece by 27 per cent, in case those states failed.
In Tuesday's mock ballot 60 MPs out of the 311- strong conservative bloc voted against or abstained from voting. However, this is some way off the 120 votes against and/or abstentions that were predicted in some polls. The vote itself is scheduled for 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT)
Spain, Estonia and Austria have already approved the bailout, while the Dutch parliament will vote later on Tuesday.