Greek workers protesting painful state spending cuts closed down hospitals, schools and public transport Friday, as Prime Minister George Papandreou headed for talks with European leaders in search of concrete support through the debt crisis. The strikes come as parliament is to vote on a new ¤4.8 billion ($6.5 billion) austerity package that will hike consumer taxes and slash pay for public sector workers by up to 8 percent. The center-left government is seking a total ¤16 billion ($21.87 billion) in savings this year, to reduce a bloated budget deficit. Seeking a pledge of assistance, Papandreou is due to meet in Luxembourg with Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of an informal group of eurozone finance ministers. Later Friday, he will hold talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Despite raising ¤5 billion ($6.83 billion) from a successful bond issue Thursday, Athens remains under intense pressure from high borrowing rates. Papandreou has ruffled Europe's feathers by warning that Greece could request financial help from the International Monetary Fund unless the EU details potential emergency support. Papandreou insists Greece is not seeking bailout money from the European Union but a public commitment to a financial rescue plan that would reassure markets. Asked in an interview with Germany's daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Friday what he wants from Merkel, Papandreou was quoted as saying: “Support ... that there is European support so that we can borrow money under reasonable conditions.” He said that Greece has never asked for a bailout, but lack of support would hurt his reform plans. “And that would, one way or another, be expensive for all of Europe,” Papandreou said. “If the euro retreated, that might help some countries with their exports, but it would for example make importing oil and gas more expensive.” Papandreou will also discuss the debt crisis with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Sunday, and meet U.S. President Barack Obama on March 9 in Washington. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Friday that President Nicolas Sarkozy would back Greece if its debt woes got it into real trouble. While she told LCI television that Sunday's meeting would focus on how the Greek government's new austerity plans will be enacted, she also said she expects Sarkozy will tell Papandreou that France would be there if Greece got into real difficulties. She did not explain what form that support would take. Hundreds of Communist-affiliated unionists gathered Friday for a central Athens rally against the new measures, chanting “Greece is not Ireland, the rich must pay for the crisis,” in reference to the Irish government's tough austerity program. State schools were closed, hospitals functioned with emergency staff and all Athens public transport was idle, while an air traffic controllers work stoppage from 1000GMT to 1400GMT has canceled dozens of flights. More protest rallies are planned in Athens and other Greek cities, to demand that the government takes back some of the measures. “We must wage a long and effective struggle,” said Yiannis Panagopoulos, the leader of Greece's largest union, the GSEE. “The (new) measures are one
