Greece has said it will not renege on election pledges to end austerity measures as creditors pressed for a deal to free financing and avert a widening crisis.

Greek MPs approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget in a vital step to persuade international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan instalment without which the country will go bankrupt.

About 15,000 protesters converged on the Greek capital’s main square outside Parliament tonight, ahead of a vote by MPs on the 2013 budget which would once more cut pensions and salaries so Greece can qualify for its next vital batch of rescue loans.

A FORMER US diplomat who resigned over the Iraq war yesterday described US President George W Bush as a “very weak” man led by the hand into battle by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.