Greece accepts stringent austerity for a €110-billion EU-IMF bailout

Caught between the 16-nation eurozone's stiff austerity conditions on one side and the deep blue Aegean Sea on the other, a nearly bankrupt Greece has agreed to accept unprecedented austerity measures in exchange for a massive €110-billion ($146-billion) bailout, the first bailout of a member country in its history.

Finance ministers of the 16 nation's eurozone met in Brussels last night and endorsed the €110 billion bailout, which was designed more to save the euro than to save the broken economy of Greece.

The eurozone agreed to give €80 billion, while €30 billion will come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Unveiling the extremely tough measures that Athens had to accept in lieu of the loan at an extraordinary cabinet meeting, Prime Minister George Papandreou said that Greece had to choose between collapse and salvation.

But the previous two rounds of austerity measures undertaken by Greece had already drawn widespread criticism and anger, and with Greece being put through the wringer for the bailout package, another dose of austerity measures could trigger further social unrest.

The IMF and the eurozone will give the money over a period of three years provided Greece achieving certain spending cuts and the continuation of bailout is subject to Greece reaching spending reduction targets.