Merkel ally doesn't see scope for Greek extension beyond Tuesday

BERLIN (Reuters) - A senior German lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party told Reuters on Saturday that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has "pulled the plug" himself with his call for a referendum and thus made it impossible for parliament to vote on any further Greek aid by the end of June. Gunther Krichbaum, chairman of the German parliament's Europe committee, also said that he doesn't see a majority in parliament for a proposal to extend the rescue efforts for Greece for another week, beyond June 30, to July 5. He said that Tsipras's call for a referendum meant the parliament in Berlin would have nothing to vote on by Tuesday. "With his announcement, Tsipras has pulled the plug himself," Krichbaum told Reuters. "With his announcement he has taken away from parliament the basis for a vote." He said that the German parliament would not vote on any proposal that had not been endorsed first by the Finance Ministry in Berlin as well as the Greek parliament. "The endorsement from the Greek parliament that was a requirement of ours has thus been invalidated," Krichbaum said. He said he could also "not imagine" that there would be a majority in the conservative party in parliament to extend the rescue efforts for Greece beyond June 30 by a week. He said Tsipras should have proposed a referendum sooner. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; writing by Erik Kirschbaum)