CUTS

Greece Submits Slashed Budget

But no new austerity measures next year.

There are going to be painful cutbacks in Greece for a while. The new government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos submitted a draft budget Friday in a first step toward meeting requirements for an international bailout. The plan would reduce Greece's 2012 budget deficit by more than a third to just 5.4 percent of its GDP. But there wouldn't be any more austerity measures next year as long as reforms are enacted. The country desperately needs the bailout cash to avoid bankruptcy and disrupting the euro zone. But rival parties still have to pass the plan, and representatives from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the European Central Bank will meet Papademos this weekend to forge a path forward.