Greek government seeks to rush through austerity budget

Greece's new coalition government has sped up plans to pass a 2012 austerity budget, hoping to press ahead with tough debt-reduction talks despite the financial turmoil threatening the eurozone.

Politicians began a debate on the budget today a day earlier than initially planned - maintaining deep cuts to slash the budget deficit from an estimated 9% of gross domestic product this year to 5.4% in 2012.