8/4/2019 European Leaders Meet Over Greek Debt Crisis

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European leaders meet over Greek debt crisis

Finance ministers gather in Luxembourg to discuss bailout as government unveilsnew budget cuts to avert bankruptcy

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/10/2011103105748646237.html 

As ever these days trouble starts here in

Greece and ripples outwards. News of missed

 _________ reduction target has hit global

stock markets hard. It’s clear Greece’s

problems are problems of the world. Gathering

in Luxembourg the finance ministers of the

euro zone, the Greek _________ minister will

have some explaining to do to persuade his

colleagues the Greeks deserve the next vital

slice of bailout money not to mention future

payments. The _________ programme doesn’t

seem to be working to restore Greece to

 _________; the opposite is happening instead.

The government blames a worse than expected

 _________ with the economy contracting 5.5%

in 2011 and continuing the next year.

In the midst of which, the bailout terms

demand yet more cuts, more _________,which means there’s going to be far more of 

this, strikes and protests in an _________

already struggling and finding it harder and

harder to function every day. These are

students who say their dreams are being cast

away.

But the latest round of _________ is

controversially aimed at the civil service

traditionally protected by the government. Not

any more, with 28,000 mostly older workers

placed in a so called _________ reserve,

forced into early retirement, and 150,000 more

 jobs will go in the next four years. Cuts come

at a cost to the social government with its

shaky majority of just four. _________ support

for future measures could begin to waver;

support for the bailout could wane at home and

abroad with potentially disastrous effects.

austerity

bailout

deficit

economy

finance

growth

labour

parliamentary 

recession

taxes

1.  Where are the financial

ministers gathering?

2.  What will the Greek finance

minister have to explain?

3.  What will he try to persuade

his colleagues to do?

4.  Has the bailout programme

been successful so far?

5.  What does the Greek

government put the blame

on?

6.  What will more cuts and taxes

lead to according to the

reporter?

7.  Who are the latest austerity

measures aimed at?

8.  How many workers are going

to be placed in “labour

reserve”?

8/4/2019 European Leaders Meet Over Greek Debt Crisis

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ANSWER KEY

deficit

finance

bailout

growth

recession

taxes

economy

austerity

labour

parliamentary

1.  They are gathering in Luxembourg.

2.  He will have to explain why Greece has failed to meet this year’s deficit target.

3.  He will try to persuade his colleagues to give Greece the next instalment of bailout money.

4.  No, it hasn’t succeeded in restoring Greece to growth. The opposite is happening instead.

5.  It puts the blame on deepening recession (a worse than expected recession).

6.  They will lead to more strikes and protests.

7.  They are aimed at the civil service.

8.  28,000 mostly older workers will be placed in labour reserve.