Deal near for Greek economy
As the talks over a giant bail-out deal for Greece reached a critical stage the government in Athens is coming under intense pressure to implement new spending cuts. The IMF and the EU are discussing loaning Greece at least 40 billion pounds this year. But they want to see further measures to reduce the deficit.
Greek trade union officials expressed outrage at the conditions after a meeting with the Greek prime minister. They claim Greece is being asked to make cuts of over 20 billion pounds over the next two years. The unions have now called a general strike for next week. Last night tear gas was fired at hundreds of demonstrators who were protesting at the bail-out plan.
The expectation that a rescue for Greece was just days away helped bring some calm to the financial markets. But the mood in Athens is increasingly against any bail-out and the Greek prime minister George Papandreou has said that the country is in a battle for survival.
Gavin Hewitt, BBC News
VOCABULARY
- bail-out
-
when someone helps a person or organisation (or here, a country) that is in difficulty, by giving or lending them money
- critical
-
very important
- coming under intense pressure
-
being asked very forcefully to do something
- implement
-
put a plan into action
- spending cuts
-
decreasing the amount of money being spent
- expressed outrage at the conditions
-
said that they were very angry about what they are being asked to do
- called a general strike
-
asked all workers in the country to stop working to show that they disapprove of something (here, the financial rescue plan)
- tear gas
-
a gas (used by police to control groups of people) which causes your eyes to sting and fill with tears
- demonstrators who were protesting
-
people who were publicly saying they didn’t agree with the bailout
- bring some calm to the financial markets
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steadied Greece’s value on the stock exchange or made Greek (and other countries’) stocks and share less likely to crash or fail
