BERLIN: German lawmakers approved Friday a hard-won bailout extension for Greece's new anti-austerity government in a move Berlin's finance chief called "not easy" but necessary, keeping a crucial lifeline open to Athens.

Greece's left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the German vote as "a political act of common sense and democracy", pledging to get to work on reforms and suggesting it was a victory for his cause. He promised that now his month-old government would "start working hard, in order to change Greece within a Europe that changes direction".

The four-month bailout extension for Greece, approved by eurozone finance ministers Tuesday, averts a potentially calamitous end-February deadline that could have seen Athens default and exit from the euro. With worsening Greek economic data heightening the pressure, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had vigorously urged MPs to support giving Athens the additional breathing space.

"I'd like to ask parliament, each lawmaker, not to reject the request by the ministry of finance, which wasn't easy for me either, because this would do great harm to our people and our future," Schaeuble told parliament.

Schaeuble, who has traded barbs with Athens in recent weeks, sought to reassure lawmakers Germany would not have to stump up "new billions" or change the bailout conditions but merely grant "more time to successfully conclude" the plan adopted for Athens in 2012.

As expected, the extension won overwhelming support in the lower house where Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right coalition has a commanding majority.-AFP