Greeks strike again as EU ponders rescue

Drawing on the lessons of the Greek debt crisis, the European Commission is to present by Tuesday proposals for a "European IMF," a body that could rescue debt-hit countries, a commission official said on Monday.

Greece's fiscal woes, which nearly spiralled out of control late last year after a solvency scare in Dubai put a broader spotlight on countries struggling with sovereign debt, have undermined the euro and caused concern in Brussels.

The hard-pressed Socialist government, which faces a mounting barrage of strikes and work stoppages over its austerity cuts, has spelled out that it could appeal to the International Monetary Fund if no EU help comes.

Later Monday Papandreou holds a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, and meets with President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday as part of efforts to drum up support for Greece from its international partners.

"Things are happening quickly," commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said Monday, noting that eurozone members sought "to draw lessons from what happened (in Greece) and to take advantage of this opportunity."

The EU gave a tentative deadline of the end of June for full details on how such a European instrument would be funded, and by whom.

In Athens, tax collectors began a two-day walkout, court employees launched a week-long series of work stoppages and garbage collectors also mobilised against the spending cuts that are meant to save 4.8 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars).

State employees, which number around one million, are the main target of the Socialist government's belt-tightening drive.

The walkouts come ahead of a general strike on Thursday -- the second in two weeks -- called by the country's two main unions, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and the civil servants' union Adedy.

Gas station owners and teachers are also planning industrial actions and police union members have been called to demonstrate on Thursday.

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