ATHENS (AFP) - Greece came under intense pressure on Thursday to cut spending and raise taxes in return for a giant international bailout, as the markets drew breath after some head-spinning plunges. A top EU official said negotiations on emergency loans to prevent a Greek default were nearly complete amid growing fears that the debt crisis could spread to other heavily-indebted parts of Europe. New signs that Germany could back the bailout helped global stocks and the euro stabilise after days of losses caused by the demotion of Greek debt to junk status and the downgrading of Portugal and Spains credit rating. Greek shares jumped 7.14 percent by the close of trading and the interest rate that Greece has to pay to sell new debt fell back to below 10 percent, although yields on a two-year bond were still high at more than 12 percent. US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier called for resolute action by Greece to control spending, as officials warned that the Greek drama could spark a wider global conflagration. Greece has asked the EU and the International Monetary Fund to activate a three-year rescue package worth 45 billion euros (60 billion dollars) this year alone as it faces a May 19 default deadline to secure new funds. Following talks with IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, two German lawmakers said the total loans could run up to 120 billion euros over three years. Following talks with Prime Minister George Papandreou in Athens, senior trade union officials voiced outrage, saying the EU and IMF have asked Greece to save 25 billion euros in the next two years in return for the loans. The IMF and the EU have asked for Greece to shave off by next year 10 percentage points from a public deficit that reached 13.6 percent of output in 2009, a top union official said on condition of anonymity. Athens was also asked to get rid of 13th and 14th month bonuses for public sector workers and pensioners and raise the value-added tax, the official said. Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the ADEDY public workers union, said the conditions being demanded for the money constituted extremely rough measures which go against development and will lead to recession. The unions, which have called a new general strike for Wednesday, warned that they would fight deeper cuts. Creditors are not just pressing, they are blackmailing and do not accept negotiation, said Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of the General Confederation of Workers (GSEE). With our struggle we will attempt to limit the extent of this attack, he said. In Brussels, the EUs commissioner for economic and monetary affairs Olli Rehn said that marathon talks with Greece were nearly complete. But he insisted that Athens had to take effective action. We are about to conclude the talks, he said. Rehn said EU aid would be conditional on implementing the decisions required at every stage to meet the conditions of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. Major European stock markets were back in the black and the euro clawed its way back above 1.32 dollars, buoyed by news that a deal was close. On Wednesday, Merkel and Obama spoke on the phone about the importance of resolute action by Greece and timely support from the IMF and Europe to address Greeces economic difficulties, the White House said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a state visit to China, pledged solid backing for Greece and the euro. France is fully determined to support the euro, and to support Greece, Sarkozy told AFP and French newspaper Le Parisien. He said the plan put together by Athens to solve its debt problems was credible, adding: We have confidence in the Greek government and were working flat out so all this can be put into place without delay. German central bank chief Axel Weber said Greece must be rescued to stop the debt crisis spreading to other parts of the euro area. Let me be clear aid for Greece as a last resort, is in my view the best way to avoid the crisis spreading to other member states and the euro area with extremely negative consequences, Weber told the Bild daily. Weber said the effects of letting Greece default were incalculable and stressed that expelling Athens from the euro area was legally not possible.