Merkel needs own majority in EFSF vote: coalition ally

The head of one of the parties in Germany's ruling coalition says that Chancellor Angela Merkel must convince her coalition to back next weeks' vote on the euro zone bailout fund

German Chancellor Angela Merkel must convince a majority of lawmakers from her own coalition to back next week's crunch vote on the euro zone bailout fund, rather than rely on opposition support, the head of one of her coalition parties said on Thursday.
"A majority from the Chancellor's ranks is not needed constitutionally but politically," Horst Seehofer, head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), said after a party meeting in its home state of Bavaria. The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of Merkel's Christian Democrats.
"If a majority from her own coalition parties is not forthcoming, then there is room for interpretation," Seehofer said, adding he would prefer to avoid such an outcome.
Merkel looks sure to win the Sept. 29 vote on the European Financial Stability Facility because opposition parties support the bill, designed to give the EFSF more powers after an agreement by EU leaders in July.
However, her job could be on the line if she has to rely on the opposition and fails to persuade rebels from her conservative camp and the Free Democrats (FDP), her junior coalition partners.
Opposition parties have said Merkel would be finished politically if that were the case and have threatened to call for fresh elections. If that happened, the ensuing uncertainty would send shockwaves through the euro zone as it tries to tackle its debt crisis.
Most leading members of her coalition have said they are sure of passing the legislation without relying on opposition votes, but Seehofer said the coalition had to work hard to make sure of that.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a member of Merkel's Christian Democrats, has cast doubt on whether the coalition will muster sufficient votes from its own ranks.
In an interview on Wednesday, he said Merkel's government would survive even it had to rely on opposition votes, comments widely interpreted in the German media as raising uncertainty about the majority.
Seehofer, who has to cater to his more euro-sceptic supporters in Bavaria, has even left open the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone.
The draft law on the EFSF has been amended to take account of a Constitutional Court ruling earlier this month which demanded a bigger say for parliament in granting aid in future.
Several of Germany's 16 federal states also want to be more involved in decisions on aid to euro zone countries. They are demanding the Bundesrat upper house, in which they are represented, is informed as early as possible about planned decisions on bailouts by the EFSF.