Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas has announced that he is optimistic that his government’s extra savings package aimed at fighting a debt crisis would allow its 2010 budget target to be met.

Droutsas also told Deutschlandfunk radio that Athens needed support from EU partners so that government borrowing would not be too expensive, but said Greece did not need direct financial support from other EU countries.

He noted that the government aimed to reduce the budget deficit to 8.7 percent of GDP this year from 12.7 percent in 2009.

“We are very optimistic that with the right implementation of this package of savings measures we can reach this target in 2010. That is our obligation and something that the Greek government is undertaking very seriously,” he said in the interview, speaking in German.

The EU praised Greece’s third savings package in as many months and said Athens could count on European solidarity.

But Merkel, whose backing for any European safety net for Greek borrowing would be vital, has stopped short of any commitment to financial support.