Details have been announced of a 110 billion euro ($US146.2 billion) package to rescue Greece from bankruptcy.
In return for the loans, Greece will make major austerity cuts which Prime Minister George Papandreou said involved "great sacrifices".
The EU will provide 80 billion euros in funding over three years and the rest will come from the International Monetary Fund.
The BBC reports the deal is designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt.
However, it must first be approved by some parliaments in the 15 other eurozone countries.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said up to 30bn euros would be disbursed to Greece in the first year.
The first loan tranche will be released before 19 May - the date of Greece's next debt repayment.
In return for this financial support, the Greek government has announced a fresh round of efficiencies, including further tax rises and deeper cuts in pensions and public service pay.
The Eurogroup is trying to speed up rescue efforts for Greece amid fears the crisis could undermine other states that use the single currency.
Anxiety about contagion has focused on Portugal, Spain and the Republic of Ireland.
Deep recession
The BBC reports the Greek economy is still deep in recession. On Sunday the government forecast that GDP would fall by 4% in 2010.
The national debt - currently at about 115% of GDP - would rise to 149% by 2013 before falling.
Mr Papandreou told a televised cabinet meeting that great sacrifices would be needed.
He said active and retired public sector workers would bear the brunt of the new wave of cuts.
"Our national red line is to avoid bankruptcy," Mr Papandreou said, adding that "no-one could have imagined" the size of the debt that the previous government had left behind.
The plan aims to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30 billion euros over three years. The goal is to cut Greece's public deficit to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%.
The measures include:
Scrapping bonus payments for public sector workers
Capping annual holiday bonuses and axing them for higher earners
Banning increases in public sector salaries and pensions for at least three years
Increasing VAT from 21% to 23%
Raising taxes on fuel, alcohol and tobacco taxes by 10%
Taxing illegal construction.
Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said Greece had been called on to make a "basic choice between collapse or salvation".
Emergency legislation
New emergency legislation authorising the cuts and tax rises is now being drafted and is due to be put before parliament for approval by the end of the week.
However unions have vowed to fight the round of austerity measures.
A nationwide general strike - the third in three months - is scheduled for Wednesday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece's austerity plans would spur other troubled eurozone members to do all they could to avoid the same fate.
She told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "These countries can see that the path taken by Greece with the IMF is not an easy one. As a result they will do all they can to avoid this themselves."
