29.9.2011

By Simon Miller

German politicans have backed the expansion of the European bailout fund.

In a vote this morning at the Bundestag, 523 politicans voted in favour of it, 85 opposed and three abstained.

However, at this stage it is not clear whether the German chancellor Angela Merkel had to rely on opposition votes to win.

The breakdown of the votes will take up to an hour and any sign that Merkel failed to silence rebels in her coalition would seriously damage her ability to steer fresh measures to combat the eurozone crisis through.

If there are more than 19 rebels in Merkel's 311-MP coalition then it will be clear that she had to rely on opposition MPs.

German will be exposed to up to €211bn (£183bn) worth of guarantees in the €440bn European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and Merkel tried to assure her coalition that taxpayers' money would not be wasted by supporting bailout measures.

In a tempestuous debate, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeble said it would be indecent to speculate on Germany contributing more to the EFSF.

Meanwhile, CDU-rebel Klaus-Peter Willsch commented: " We're borrowing money from our children to put in a showcase and it is money that we don't have."