German parliament approves support package

The German parliament approved on Thursday the enlargement of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), designed to help bail out the economic problems of indebted EU member states. Five hundred and twenty three German MPs voted for the bill, 85 opposed it and three abstained. The European Union formed the EFSF in May 2010 to support economically weak members such as Ireland and Greece. The parliament has voted for an increase of the fund's financial guarantees to 780 million euros from 440 million, while Germany's share in it will grow to 211 billion euros from 123 million euros. The vote was initiated by country's ruling Christian Democratic Union headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel to provide additional financial support to Greece over worries of its possible default. The upper house of the German parliament will vote on the package on Friday. All the eurozone nations must approve and ratify the expansion of the package - so far ten have done so.