EU Lauds Greek Budget-Cutting Will, Boosting Aid Propects

European finance ministers saluted Greece’s determination to trim its budget and reshape its recession-wracked economy, smoothing the way for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s trip to Athens with a commitment to keeping the country in the euro.

European officials paired the encouragement with a demand that Greece commit to a list of 89 policy steps before an Oct. 18-19 leaders’ summit, and left open whether the next 31 billion-euro ($40 billion) loan installment would be paid out in one go or dribbled out in smaller pieces.