EU commissioner defends work of bailout 'troika'

In a two-hour long grilling by MEPs on Monday (13 January) in Strasbourg, EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn defended the work of the troika of international lenders: the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

He said troika officials had to make decisions in "dramatic circumstances" and under "terrible time pressure" back in 2010, when Greece was about to default on its debt and Ireland and Portugal were on their way to asking for a ...