to form a coalition Government following the election and there was widespread speculation of Greece exiting the Eurozone, termed a "Grexit". Below is a brief summary of some of the main events since the Greek government debt crisis. 2009 October October – A new Greek government led by Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) was formed after the party received 43.92% of the popular vote and 160 of 300 parliamentary seats in the Greek legislative election, 2009. 2010 January 14 January – Greece unveiled its Stability and Growth Programme which aimed to cut deficit from 12.7% in 2009 to 2.8% in 2012. February 2 February – The Greek Government extended public sector wage freeze to those earning less than €2,000 a month. 3 February – The EU Commission backed Greece's Stability and Growth Programme and urged it to cut its overall wage bill. 10 February – Thousands of Greek civil servants staged a 24-hour strike shutting schools and grounding flights as the government planned to freeze pay and pensions. 24 February – One-day general strike against the austerity measures halted public services and transport system. 25 February – EU mission in Athens with International Monetary Fund (IMF) experts delivered a grim assessment of the country's finances. March 5 March – New Greek public sector wage cuts and tax increases were passed to generate an estimated saving of €4.8 billion. Measures include increasing value-added tax by 2% to 21%, cutting public sector salary bonuses by 30%, increases in fuel, tobacco and alcohol consumption taxes and freezing state-funded pensions in 2010. 11 March – Greek public and private sector workers strike. 15 March – European Monetary Union (EMU) finance ministers agree on a mechanism to help Greece but reveal no details. 18 March – Papandreou warns Greece will not be able to cut deficit if borrowing costs remain as high as they are and may have to go to the IMF. 19 March – European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso urges EU member states to agree a standby aid package for Greece. Barroso says the EMU countries should be on stand by to make bilateral loans. 25 March – European Central Bank (ECB) President, Jean-Claude Trichet says his bank will extend softer rules on collateral (accepting BBB? instead of the standard A−) for longer (up to 2011) in order to avoid a situation where one ratings agency (Moody's) basically decides if an EMU country's