European Union leaders tried Thursday to find a balance between austerity and growth policies amid rising fears of social unrest as unemployment soars and Europe's economy remains in the doldrums. Germany, the bloc's strongest economy and paymaster, is holding to a hardline on austerity, insisting that only discipline ensures real growth while France and several others want some leeway so as to ease the immediate pain.

European Union leaders try Thursday to find a difficult balance between austerity policies adopted to cut debt and calls to spend more to generate growth and jobs in an economy stuck in the doldrums. The stakes are high. Italian elections last month saw a new anti-austerity party win a stunning 25 percent of the vote, a warning for austerity hardliners such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel who faces polls later in the year.

The US budget deficit for the month of February narrowed from a year ago, government data released Wednesday showed. The federal budget had a shortfall of $203.5 billion for the month, 12 percent lower than a year ago, the Treasury Department said in a statement. Revenues jumped 19 percent to $122.8 billion, benefiting in part from a payroll tax hike on January 1 as a temporary reduction in Social Security deductions expired.

European Union leaders meet Thursday and Friday with another eurozone debt bailout, this time for Cyprus, looming on the horizon as Europe's faltering economy and soaring unemployment stoke unease at stinging austerity policies. Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Wednesday that he and his eurozone colleagues would meet after the EU summit late Friday to work on a bailout plan for Cyprus -- following previous rescues for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and for Spanish banks.