All flights from Sofia to Athens on February 24 2010 are cancelled, Bulgarian National Television reported, after Greek air traffic controllers declared a strike.

This is only a small portion of the massive strike in Greece by about two million workers discontent with the government's austerity measures aimed at tackling the nation's astronomical public deficit.

This is the second general strike in two weeks. Previously, customs officials went on strike and Greek farmers blocked the Bulgarian border for a month.

The protests are reportedly the biggest since Greece's socialist government decided to take drastic measures to reduce the public deficit which, at 12.7 per cent is more than four times the limit allowed in the Eurozone.

According to the Greek national television ER1's website, a delegation of EU Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund officials is due to arrive in Athens to monitor fiscal measures.

"Even though there are austerity measures and they do hurt, the government has the support right now of about 50 per cent to 60 per cent of the population," Greek prime minister George Papandreou said, as quoted by ER1.

In the interview with the BBC on February 22, Papandreou insisted that the situation was under control.

"We're on target, beyond target on January statistics, so we're doing well. If we do need extra measures, we will take extra measures in order to reduce our deficit this year by four per cent in 2010. We're ready to do so," he said.