Papandreou seeks French backing for debt crisis

Greek Prime Minster George Papandreou headed to Paris today, the third stop of a four-city tour seeking firmer European Union and US support for harsh austerity measures that have sparked violent protests at home.

Athens is adamant that it has done all it can with the new measures to reduce its massive 12.7% budget deficit. It is now seeking concrete actions from European partners to calm markets and bring down the country’s high borrowing costs, which are about twice that of Germany’s.