EU ministers set deadlines for Greece to make cuts

European Union finance ministers have set Greece a deadline of March 16th to show a plan to rein in its ballooning budget deficit. There's also a mid-May date for a review of its progress of work in this regard.

EU finance ministers are keeping up the pressure on Greece to sharply reduce its government deficit which now stands at a staggering 12.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product.

After their meeting on Tuesday, the ministers clearly suggested that the 30 days they have given Greece to prove itself before reporting back will in any case end with demands for more budget cuts or tax hikes, or both.

Elena Salgado, Spanish Finance Minister, said, "We have adopted the decision to notify Greece of the need to take measures to remedy the excessive deficit situation with a series of measures which have been set out in order to end the excessive deficit by 2012..."

Elena Salgado, the finance minister of Spain, with, from left, Olli Rehn,  Michel Barnier, and Algirdas Semeta of the European Commission at a news  conference in Brussels on Tuesday.(Olivier Hoslet/European Pressphoto Agency)

The ministers revealed nothing about specific support measures or aid to Greece, despite that the EU leaders pledged earlier to step in to safeguard financial stability, if the debt crisis gets out of hand.

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