Europe, Country Bailout | featured news

Greeks expressed their misery on Monday at the erosion of their daily lives by austerity measures demanded by international lenders in exchange for bailout funds, ahead of a key parliamentary vote on extra property tax.

By insisting that it receive collateral from Greece in return for aid, Finland threatens to upend an agreement that euro zone countries made in July to expand the E.U. bailout fund.

Greece’s finance minister has called on the EU to implement “fully and immediately” an agreement reached last month overhauling the eurozone’s rescue fund and extending Greece a €109 billion ($157 billion) bailout. The finance ministry says Evangelos Venizelos wrote to senior officials, including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, EU economic commissioner Olli Rehn and eurozone finance ministers. Excerpts of the letter were released Sunday.

Riot police fired tear gas at youths hurling rocks and petrol bombs near the Greek finance ministry Tuesday, trying to quell the anger unleashed during mass protests and a general strike as parliament debated new cost-cutting measures.

Under the plan, French banks would give Athens more time to pay back loans as they come due over the next three years.

Hours of talks between eurozone finance ministers on the imploding finances of Greece broke up early Monday morning without the ministers signing off on a vital installment of rescue loans needed to avoid bankruptcy next month.

Prime Minister George Papandreou has vowed to stay on and fight to pull his country out of a crippling debt crisis, facing down a revolt in his Socialist party over new but widely unpopular austerity measures....

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou offered on Wednesday to step down and make way for a national unity government provided it supported EU/IMF bailout plans, government sources said.

Euro zone finance ministers are ready to back an EU/IMF bailout of Portugal at a Monday meeting overshadowed by the arrest of International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges.

Bleak EU economic forecasts on Friday showed Greece will miss its debt targets this year without further reforms and a senior policymaker said Athens was not meeting the terms of its rescue package.