The Greek Prime Minister, Costas Simitis, has announced that parliamentary elections will take place in April, five months earlier than scheduled.

Mr Simitis said his government needed a fresh mandate during negotiations this Spring on joining the European Monetary Union.

Greece is the only EU country which was left out of the EMU for failing to meet certain economic criteria.

Mr Simitis said election uncertainty would have cast a cloud over the negotiations.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service