ATHENS, Greece — Prime Minister George Papandreou said today Greece was awaiting strong support from the European Union after ordering even more painful budget measures officials say will save the country about $6.5 billion.

Papandreou said he was "awaiting European solidarity" as he briefed Greece's president ahead of the formal announcement of renewed measures to defuse a government debt crisis that has shaken the entire EU and undermined the euro currency.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Papandreou said the measures were "necessary for the survival of our country and our economy."

Papandreou will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Friday and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Sunday, as the European Union remains tightlipped over a possible bailout plan to be made conditional on the cuts.

Government officials said the measures would include cuts in civil servant's annual pay through reducing their Easter, Christmas and vacation bonuses by 30 percent each, and a 2 percentage point increase in sales tax to bring it to 21 percent from the current 19 percent.

In a dramatic speech to his Socialist party deputies in Parliament Tuesday night, Papandreou said his country was in a "state of war" and was fighting for its national survival.

The new austerity package comes after European Union officials bluntly told Athens to make deeper spending cuts.

BAGHDAD — A string of three deadly suicide bombings killed 30 people in the former insurgent stronghold of Baqouba today, including a blast from a suicide bomber who rode in an ambulance with the wounded before blowing himself up at a hospital, police said.The bombings — Iraq's deadliest in weeks — come as Iraq is preparing for Sunday's parliamentary elections. The crucial balloting will decide who will oversee the country as U.S. forces go home and help determine whether Iraq can overcome the deep sectarian tensions that have divided the nation since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned repeatedly insurgents were expected to launch such attacks in an attempt to disrupt the crucial vote. A man purporting to be Abu Omar al-Baghdadi — the leader of an al-Qaida front group in Iraq — has vowed to violently disrupt the vote.The bombings also could affect the candidacy of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who came to power in 2006 and oversaw a return to relative stability in 2008 and 2009.A police spokesman in the volatile Diyala province, Capt. Ghalib al-Karkhi, said the blasts struck in quick succession in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, and also wounded 48 people.