Greece's hopes of solving its debt crisis got a boost when it attracted heavy demand for the sale of an important bond issue on Thursday, but an opinion poll on Friday showed the government faces stiff opposition to planned austerity measures.

The European Union and European Central Bank have praised the proposed new pay cuts, pension freeze and tax increases.

But Greece's biggest public and private sector unions called a new strike for March 11 and Athens faced a fresh call from a senior ECB member for the steps to be closely monitored.

Papandreou hoped to win support at talks in Luxembourg with Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the 16-country Eurogroup, and at talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who leads the EU's biggest economy.

"Greece really has to do something. Greece is doing that now," Juncker told Deutschlandfunk radio.

"If all this were not to suffice, the euro zone would be ready to guarantee the financial stability of the euro area but I do not expect that to be necessary," he said.

Merkel said the bond issue raised optimism for further measures and described it as a good sign, underlining that Germany should stand at Athens' side. A spokesman for the German chancellor said her meeting with Papandreou would be about offering political support and not financial aid.

German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said each EU member state was responsible for its own affairs and Athens had to implement its austerity plan effectively. "The German government does not intend to give a cent," he said.

The crisis threatens the credibility of the euro and, despite Eurogroup reluctance to provide financial assistance, it wants to avoid Greece turning to the International Monetary Fund for help because doing so could be seen as weakness.

Athens needs to borrow 53 billion euros ($72 billion) this year - at least 20 billion of it by the end of May - to repay existing debt and cover its huge budget deficit.

A day after announcing 4.8 billion euros of austerity steps for 2010 to reduce its budget deficit, Thursday's 5 billion euro 10-year syndicated bond was more than three times oversubscribed.

The bond sale tested investors' belief that the steps can be effective. Greece's debt agency chief said most of the bond deal was placed outside Greece, showing foreign investors' readiness to buy Greek debt at high yields.

The Greek/German 10-year bond yield spread edged up to 303 basis points from 299 basis points at Thursday's European settlement close.

At 0859 GMT on Friday, the Bund future was up 3 ticks at 124.32. The 10-year German bond yield was 3.123 percent, up 1 basis point while the two-year Schatz yield was all but flat at 0.877 percent.

Merkel's cautious approach, and even greater hostility from her Free Democrat (FDP) coalition partners, has stoked tensions with Greece.