The blue-chip DAX 30 index opened at 5,555.07 points, down 23.35 points or 0.41 percent from the closing price on Wednesday.

At around the 9:30 am (0730 GMT), the index was down by 16.3 points at 5,562.12 points.

The vote in parliament -- on expanding the size and scope of the EU's bailout fund, the EFSF -- is being described as a "day of fate" by the national media for Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Deputies in Germany's Bundestag lower house of parliament are certain to approve the legislation, as opposition parties have pledged to vote in favour, but Merkel, named the world's most powerful woman by Forbes magazine, faces a backbench rebellion as Europe looks to her for leadership.