Papandreou’s four-city tour to support for debt crisis

PARIS – Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is heading to Paris, the third stop of his four-city tour seeking firmer European Union and U.S. support for harsh austerity measures that have sparked violent protests.

Athens has been adamant that it has done all it can with its new measures to reduce its massive 12.7 percent budget deficit. Papandreou now wants something concrete from his European partners to calm markets and bring down the country’s high borrowing costs.

Papandreou, who began his foreign tour in Luxembourg and Berlin on Friday, is likely to find a sympathetic ear in his meeting Sunday evening with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He flies to Washington later for talks with President Barack Obama on Tuesday.