Greek deals scrutinized in Brussels

ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Greek leaders brought their hard-wrought financial deals to Brussels Thursday to match their plan against the expectations of the international community.

Eurozone finance ministers were to review deals that include cutting the country's debt burden by $132.6 billion. Also to be discussed was an agreement to cut $3.9 billion in government spending, reduce pension benefits and drop the minimum wage by 22 percent.

Talks in Athens that yielded the deals went through the night, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In Brussels, Greece is seeking a $170 billion bailout, which was offered with major budgeting stipulations. Greece needs the bailout package to avoid defaulting on a $19 billion bond repayment it otherwise can't pay March 20.

"We want to see real implementation of the measures needed by the Greek government and also full commitment of all leaders in Greece for future measures," Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said.

While the deals are scrutinized in Brussels, in Greece, the political fallout is not completely known, although protests and strikes have become about as routine as the budget cuts themselves.

A general election is expected as soon as April and politicians say they do not wish to be associated with measures that will almost certainly worsen the country's deep recession.

The European statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday one in three Greeks now lives below the poverty line -- up from one in five before the crisis.