Germany and the European Commission welcomed Greek approval of the austerity steps demanded for a financial lifeline, suggesting euro finance chiefs will pull Greece back from the brink when they meet in two days.

Euro-area finance ministers will convene in Brussels on Feb. 15 for the second extraordinary meeting on Greece in a week, after they declined to ratify the 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) package in a special session on Feb. 9. Frustrated after two years of missed budget targets, finance chiefs demanded Greek officials put their verbal commitments into law.

The vote in Athens "shows the will and the readiness of the Greeks to undertake major efforts of their own, including tough cuts to put their country on a good path," Steffen Seibert, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief spokesman, told reporters in Berlin today. "Greece's European partners welcome this; certainly Germany does."