Greece appeals for EU support in crisis storm

(ATHENS) - The European Union must back Greece's efforts to shore up its debt-hit economy and defend it against attacks by speculators on the financial markets, the Greek finance minister said Wednesday.

"We expect and ask our European peers to come out and support Greece in the coming days," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told Mega television.

"They have to back Greece's effort and to tell international markets that there is no weak link (in the eurozone), that we are all in the same boat and must work together," the socialist minister said.

Greece could use this encouragement "as there is no other option within the European system for other kinds of support," he added.

The minister spoke hours after the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, approved a three-year Greek crisis plan aiming to slash the country's massive debt and check its runaway public deficit.

But the Commission also placed Greece under a permanent system of monitoring -- a first for the EU -- and rapped Athens over faulty budgetary data tabled by the previous conservative government.

Greece's debt stands at more than 294 billion euros (412 billion dollars), its deficit is well beyond EU limits of three percent of output for eurozone members and it suffered a triple downgrade of its sovereign debt in December.

The downgrades have sharply pushed up the cost at which Greece borrows money to service its debt payments. The government plans to borrow around 54 billion euros this year, including 40 billion in the coming period, the minister said.

"In coming months, the country needs to borrow around 40 billion euros. This it will borrow from international markets, sadly, and international markets have their rules," Papaconstantinou said.

"These rules are often wild, in which those who are the weakest are singled out for attack," he said, adding that the government's plans had to be sped up due to an "incredible" attack by markets in recent weeks.

The Greek government has unveiled a series of austerity cuts which were supplemented on Tuesday with a call for a public salary freeze and an unspecified hike in the retirement age.

Greek unions have called for retaliatory strikes on February 10 and 24.

"It is obvious that we will have reactions, but we are convinced that the great majority of Greek society continues to support us because it feels that these decisions are necessary," Papaconstantinou said.