The European Union should help Greece to avert the default, otherwise consequences would be unpredictable for all EU members, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said.
In his interview to the Proto Thema weekly newspaper on Saturday he compared Greece to Atlas, a Greek mythology figure who held the heavens on his shoulders.
"We are not Atlas, who can bear European problems on its shoulders. If Europe cannot solve its problems, the consequences for us all will be unpredictable," he said.
Analysts and politicians fear debt problems of Greece can spread to other Eurozone countries. The country became the Eurozone's most pressing trouble in 2010, when European states and IMF had to approve financial support of billions of euro to avert a default.
The Greek government failed to drive the country out of the debt crisis despite external financial support, which did not help Greece to cut the budget deficit, avert investment outflow and get back access to the foreign loan market.
"All our efforts are directed towards protecting the interests of our country, interests of a wide majority of citizens, who would experience a real catastrophe if Greece defaults on its debt," the Greek premier said.
Analysts say the default, which is expected to take place as early as this month without another bailout tranche, will lead to a collapse of the country's banking system, pension funds and shrinking GDP.
The Greek premier also spoke in support of fresh austerity measures due to be introduced next week. The measures are widely expected to provoke nationwide protests, which would peak during the general strike on October 19-20.
