European Council President Herman Van Rompuy: "The eurozone has shown considerable solidarity"

EU leaders want Greece to remain in the eurozone but to "respect its commitments", European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has said.

Mr Van Rompuy, speaking at an informal EU summit, said continuing "vital reforms" were essential for Greece to overcome its economic problems.
The eurozone crisis has overshadowed the talks, amid fears that Greece may have to exit the single currency.

"We are fully aware of the significant efforts already made by the Greek citizens.
"The eurozone has shown considerable solidarity having already disbursed, together with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) nearly 150bn euros in support of Greece since 2010."
He said the EU would take action to return Greece to economic growth and job creation.
But Mr Van Rompuy said "continuing vital reforms" were "the best guarantee for a more prosperous future in the euro area".

On Wednesday, European stock markets fell about 2% amid anxiety that Greece might have to exit the euro.
Mr Van Rompuy said talks had been "focused and frank".

He said there was agreement on the need for economic growth as well as measures to restore financial stability, which he described as "two sides of the same coin".

UK Prime Minister David Cameron emphasised the agreements that EU leaders had reached on Wednesday.
EU leaders began the summit with Germany resisting pressure to launch eurobonds as a way to ease the eurozone crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the bonds, pooling eurozone debt, would violate EU treaties and would "not contribute to kick-starting growth".
France's President Francois Hollande said that he wanted discussion of eurobonds and Irish PM Enda Kenny said the idea would be on the table.
Earlier, Ms Merkel said talks would not result in decisions but would influence formal summit talks in late June.
The leaders would look at ways to deepen the EU internal market, boost mobility in Europe's labour market and better target European Investment Bank funding for projects. Such measures could help stimulate growth, she said.
The summit has been the first opportunity for President Hollande to shift the emphasis from austerity to growth - a key message he gave to French voters, who elected him on 6 May.
The French Socialist leader's victory is seen as a challenge to the prevailing austerity drive in the EU, which is favoured by Germany.


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Eurozone jobless rate hits record high

Unemployment in the eurozone reached a record high again in March as spending cuts continued to hit the working population. Eurostat says that the jobless rate rose again to 10.9%, the highest since the euro was formed in 1999.

17.4 million are now looking for work and more than 3 million of those are under 25.

Italy's unemployment rate reached a 12-year high, up to 9.8% and, in a surprise move, the jobless rate in Germany rose to 6.8% in March, official figures showed, having been expected to stay at the previous month's 6.7% after six months of declines. The number of Germans out of work is now at 2.87 million.

For the whole of the European Union, including countries such as the UK and Denmark, the jobless rate is 10.2%. Last week, Spain said that the number of jobseekers rose for the eighth month in a row in March to hit 5.6 million, a record rate of 24.4%.

Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union and it is expected to rise further this year.

A debate is raging in Europe about whether politicians have prioritised austerity at the expense of economic growth, making recovery even harder for themselves.

Eurostat said that the EU member countries that had the biggest falls in unemployment in the past year were Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and those with the biggest increases were Spain, Greece and Cyprus.

Separately, a survey of eurozone manufacturing indicated that the sector slipped further into decline last month as new orders fell for the 11th straight month.

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