Greece pins its hope on a 10-year bond issue to help clear its crippling debt

GREECE launched a critical ten-year bond issue yesterday, a key test of its ability to raise funds to pay off expiring debts, and dig out of a financial crisis that has shaken the European Union.

The bond was already oversubscribed, meaning more takers than there were bonds available, within an hour of the book opening, with 7 billion (6.3bn) in offers received. The government was seeking a maximum of 5bn , said Petros Christodoulou, head of Greece's debt management agency.

The sale is a key test of Greece's ability to raise money to pay off expiring bonds and avoid the risk of default. The announcement of the issue comes a day after debt- ridden Greece detailed a new round of painful austerity measures, including salary cuts for civil servants, pension freezes and tax hikes on cigarettes, alcohol, luxury goods and gems.

Unions fiercely oppose the measures, and plan protests today, with parliament set to approve draft legislation on the new austerity plan that aims at 4.8bn in budget savings this year.

Greece is pressing its European Union partners for stronger support in return for its new harsh austerity plan, saying it needed a vote of confidence that would calm the markets. Prime minister George Papandreou is due to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country has the eurozone's biggest economy, in Berlin today, and French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Sunday.

Mr Droutsas said: "The Greek government has at no point demanded or asked for direct financial support from its EU partners or, naturally, from Germany.

"We are of the opinion that we can master this crisis alone. What we need is a really strong expression of solidarity."

Greece's two largest unions are organising work stoppages and a protest rally outside parliament today, as MPs vote on the austerity plan. The Adedy umbrella union representing civil servants, who will suffer most from the measures, decided yesterday to walk off the job from noon onwards, shutting down public services and grounding flights for four hours. The private-sector umbrella union GSEE also called for a three-hour walkout from midday. The two unions will stage a protest in Athens.

A Communist-affiliated union has called a general strike and demonstration for today.

That union occupied the finance ministry building in central Athens early yesterday, hanging a massive banner from the roof, and was planning a demonstration last night.