国际英语新闻：Eurogroup endorses Greek austerity measures, offering no bailout plan

BRUSSELS, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Finance ministers of the Eurogroup Monday endorsed the austerity measures taken by the Greek government and offered no bailout plan despite wide speculation before the meeting.

According to a statement released after the meeting, the ministers of the 16-nation bloc said that the additional fiscal measures announced by the Greek authorities on March 3 "appear sufficient to safeguard the 2010 budgetary targets provided they are effectively, fully and timely implemented."

The Greek government set out a plan in January to cut it budgetary deficit by four percentage points to 8.7 percent this year. It introduced a new package of measures earlier this month, including deeper cuts of salaries in the public sector and higher taxes, which were worth 4.8 billion euros (6.6 billion U.S. dollars).

Prime Minister of Luxembourg and President of Euro Group Jean-Claude Juncker attends a press conference after the Euro Group finance ministers meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 15, 2010.

At a press conference held after the monthly meeting of the ministers, Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said that the measures announced by the Greek government are sufficient to safeguard the 2010 budgetary targets.

"We think the consolidation measures are an important contribution to the improvement of the fiscal situation in Greece, " he said.

Juncker said that the ministers are convinced that the measures announced by the Greek government are "credible" and therefore there is no need to offer financial aid to the country.

At the press conference, Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Union (EU) Olli Rehn also said: "The Greek government have taken bold additional measures, which mean that Greece is now on track to reach 4 percent deficit reduction."