European Finance Ministers Urge Greece To Act Tough On Deficit

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European finance ministers urged Greece to take tough measures to rein in the country's massive deficit. Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said on Monday that Greece agreed to come up with more measures if necessary. Additional measures should cover revenue-increasing actions.

Greece would announce additional measures to cut its deficit if its current steps fail to be on target by March 16. The country had pledged to cut its massive budget deficit from 12.7% of GDP in 2009 to around 3% by 2012.

Following a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers, Juncker said it would be unwise to discuss the details of the potential aid for Greece. Eurozone leaders last Thursday decided to support Greece in its efforts to tackle its huge debt.

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou defended the plans announced to reduce the deficit by 2012. "We are trying to change the course of the Titanic, it cannot be done in a day," he said.

The European Commission on February 3 approved Greece's stability programme that covers a period of 2010 to 2013. It included steps to reduce the budget deficit by 4 percentage points to 8.7% of GDP in 2010 and ultimately to 2% in 2013.

European finance ministers urged Greece to take tough measures to rein in the country's massive deficit. Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said on Monday that Greece agreed to come up with more measures if necessary. (Market News Provided by RTTNews)