Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou formally accepted the European Union's proffered €45 billion in financial aid Friday, according to an article in The New York Times.
The announcement came after Greece's bond market took a sharp downturn, forcing Athens to accept the aid, which is equivalent to $53 billion, according to CNN.
The bailout money, EU officials said, will hopefully be dispersed as quickly as possible, but there are many critics of the disbursement. Germany, with the largest economy of the euro zone, was hesitant, but one German official said that saving Greece would be in Germany's national interest as well, since it saves the euro.
Other critics wonder at what the procedure will be for other economically failing countries like Portugal and Spain, if they should prove to default on loans also.
