Greece 'awaiting European solidarity' on crisis

(ATHENS) - Greece is "awaiting European solidarity" to help enact fresh austerity measures adopted by Athens to combat the country's debt crisis, Greek PM George Papandreou said on Wednesday.

"We are awaiting European solidarity, the other side of this agreement," Papandreou told President Carolos Papoulias in statement broadcast on national television.

Greece will reveal additional austerity cuts worth 4.8 billion euros (6.5 billion dollars) later on Wednesday in a bid to rescue its debt-stricken economy, state television NET reported.

"These decisions are necessary for the survival of the country and the economy," Papandreou later told reporters.

"So that Greece can exit the vortex of speculators and defamation, so that we can breathe and keep on fighting," he said.

NET reported that the latest crisis package will include a two-percent rise in sales tax, a pension freeze, and a cut in holiday allowance for civil servants who have already been targeted by benefit cuts.

The European Union has told Greece that it must count on its own efforts to remedy its debt crisis which has put pressure on the eurozone, but Brussels has also said that it will help safeguard the stability of the single currency.

Papandreou is to visit Berlin on Friday for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Paris on Sunday to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Key dates in Greece's debt crisis