European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso (R) and visiting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos give a joint press conference after their meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels, capital of Belgium, Nov. 21, 2011. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday assured the Greek prime minister that the European Union (EU) would do its utmost to help Greece, if the debt-ridden country wants to help itself.

"We will put the best of our resources to support the Greek government and the Greek efforts," Barroso said after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos in Brussels.

But to get that support, "a condition is necessary -- that Greece wants to help itself, that Greece promotes the real broad national consensus," Barroso said.

"The situation demands this national consensus and I have said it several times before - that in these times, that are so exceptional, some exceptional solutions have to be found," the president added.

Barroso called the situation in Greece "extremely serious, more so perhaps than at any point in the last eighteen months," and said Papademos had taken "a Herculean task."

He also highlighted the sacrifice the Greek citizens would have to make. "I know these are extremely difficult times for many Greek citizens. I do not underestimate the pain that the necessary cuts in public spending are causing"

However, the Greek people cannot afford to dither, and "difficult decisions" must be taken, because "the alternatives are certainly much worse," said Barroso, adding he was hopeful that "the Greek people will support this transitional government and understand why these hard choices are needed."

Barroso outlined two objectives in the coming months to support Greece.

Firstly, a second program of financial assistance to Greece for the next three years must be concluded by the end of this year. Secondly, the voluntary bond exchange with private sector investors should take place as planned at the beginning of 2012, according to Barroso.

The president identified the release of the sixth disbursement of 8 billion euros (about 10.7 billion U.S. dollars) as an urgent task that cannot be delayed, as the heavily-indebted country badly need the loan to avoid a mid-December default.

The EU has insisted that the coalition government in Greece must send international lenders a written pledge to demonstrate its commitment to its promises for structural reforms and austerity measures, something the conservative New Democracy party has been refusing to do.

Barroso called upon the new government "to send a clear signal that it will not waver from setting its debt on a steady downward path."

Addressing the same press conference, Papademos admitted that Greek party leaders would have to provide the written commitment.

"The leaders of the parties that support the government have already expressed their agreement through the vote of confidence. At the same time I added that it's important that the party leaders respond positively to the request by the Eurogroup, the European Union and the IMF," Papademos said.

The prime minister underlined the importance of the written commitment by saying that "it relates to a longer horizon than the expected horizon of this government."

Papademos also painted an optimistic outlook for the agreement on a 50-percent write-down on Greek debt holdings with private sector creditors, also called private sector involvement (PSI).

As the PSI would bring Greek debt levels down to 120 percent of GDP by 2020, "I believe the prospects for the PSI are excellent," Papademos said.

The visiting Greek prime minister is currently meeting with Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council before traveling to Luxembourg later to meet with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the Eurogroup, the grouping of the 17 countries that use the euro.