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EU Announces Greece Bailout Deal

   VOA News 11 February 2010
   European  Union  President Herman Van Rompuy, right, arrives for an EU
   summit in Brussels, Belgium, 11 Feb 2010

Photo: AP

   European  Union  President Herman Van Rompuy, right, arrives for an EU
   summit in Brussels, Belgium, 11 Feb 2010

   European  Union  President  Herman  Van  Rompuy  says  a deal has been
   reached to help Greece overcome its debt crisis.
   Rompuy  announced  the  deal  Thursday  after  talks  between Germany,
   France,  Greece  and  the  EU  in  Brussels,  ahead  of a summit of EU
   leaders.   He said details of the agreement will be announced later in
   the day.
   The news comes as Greece announced its highest unemployment figures in
   nearly  five  years,  and dealt with strikes from workers angry at new
   measures planned by the government to help lower the deficit.
   Officials  say  unemployment  in  November  reached  10.6 percent, the
   highest since March 2005, and up from 7.8 percent in November 2008.
   Meanwhile,  taxi  drivers  are  on strike in Greece, protesting higher
   fuel  taxes  and other regulations aimed at helping curtail the budget
   deficit.  That deficit exceeded 12 percent in 2009 - four times higher
   than the EU-mandated limit.
   The  government has proposed a number of measures to curb spending and
   cut  the deficit, including freezing civil service pay and raising the
   retirement age.
   Greek  government workers staged a one-day strike Wednesday to protest
   the  pay  freeze.   Air  traffic  controllers  were  part  of the work
   stoppage, grounding all flights in and out of Greece.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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