EU Commission sticks to austerity commitments

The European Commission has called on EU nations to stick to their promised budget cuts despite voter discontent in France and Greece, but promised new efforts to boost growth to alleviate economic hardship.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy also called for an impromptu informal summit of the 27 EU government leaders on May 23 to discuss economic growth and to prepare for a summit in June focused on job-boosting measures.

In elections on Sunday, voters in France and Greece gave strong support to parties who want to roll back or slow down the spending cuts and tax increases that have defined Europe's response to its debt crisis.

AP