EU pushes Greece for more cuts

The European Union pressed Greece to make even more painful spending cuts Monday.

The move came amid reports France and Germany are leading an effort to put together a financial bailout to get the country out of its debt crisis and meet deficit targets for this year.

The EU financial affairs chief, Olli Rehn, insisted on Greece adopting more austerity measures, on top of those that have already triggered strikes and unrest.

Rehn said his view was shared by the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

"I want to encourage the Greek authorities to consider and announce additional measures in the coming days," he said after talks with Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou in Athens.

"I am aware that the effort of consolidation will not be easy," Rehn said. "But it is my firm belief respect of the targets for deficit and debt reduction are indispensable."

Papaconstantinou said the Greek government will do "whatever is necessary and that includes new measures," to cut the budget deficit by four percentage points this year.

Rehn will also meet Prime Minister George Papandreou and other senior officials to address taking additional measures.

The talks came as the Wall Street Journal reported that other European countries will finalize a rescue package involving the purchase of up to $41 billion US in Greek government bonds this week. A default would be a severe blow to the shared euro currency and could hurt European banks that carry Greek government debt. The Journal did not name its sources.

The bailout would help Greece meet its short-term borrowing needs, as some $27 billion worth of government bonds mature by the end of May.