BBC News
September 22, 2011
Greece is being hit by a 24-hour public transport strike in the latest protest against government austerity measures.
The government has toughened its measures, cutting pensions further and suspending more civil servant posts.
It says this must be done to receive a vital 8bn-euro (£6.9bn) tranche of aid.
The EU said it would not allow either an uncontrolled default of Greek debt or the country to leave the eurozone, the bloc's economic commissioner said.
"An uncontrolled default or exit of Greece from the eurozone would cause enormous economic and social damage, not only to Greece but to the European Union as a whole, and have serious spillovers to the world economy," Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said.
"We will not let this happen," he added.
However, Mr Rehn, speaking in Washington, did not explicitly rule out the possibility of Greece defaulting.
The Greek government says its tougher measures are an attempt to secure the continued backing of international creditors and prevent such a default on debt payments.
The latest tranche of aid is the most recent segment of a 110bn euro ($150bn) package of loans established by eurozone countries and the IMF to help Greece pay its huge debts.
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