(CNN) -- Greece's freshly appointed finance minister Evangelos Venizelos is due to attend talks Sunday on a second economic bailout package for his debt-strapped country. He joins other European Union finance ministers in Luxembourg for a two-day meeting on Europe's economic outlook.
Venizelos, formerly Greece's defense minister, became finance minister on Friday, when Prime Minister George Papandreou reshuffled the cabinet after three weeks of anti-austerity street demonstrations in Athens. Venizelos also took over the post of deputy prime minister.
The Greek bailout tops the agenda of the meeting of the Eurogroup and Economic and Finance Ministers Council, which representatives of the International Monetary Fund will also attend, according to an EU news release.
The IMF is contributing to the bailouts of European Union member countries.
IMF staff members will present their assessment of Europe's economy. They and the finance ministers will examine existing bailouts for Ireland and Portugal as well as the economic progress in those countries.
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The harsh reforms designed to help reduce Greece's enormous budget deficit have so far led to tax hikes and public sector job losses alongside already record-high unemployment.
The crisis raises concerns for Europe's currency, the euro. A default on its debts by Greece, or another struggling nation such as Portugal or Ireland, could adversely affect the world economy.
There are fears that efforts to restructure Greece's debt could send shockwaves through Europe's banking sector and spark investor panic similar to that in the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. based global investment bank.
Venizelos addressed the Greek nation Friday, urging consensus in solving the crisis.
"Our priority is the viability and sustainability of the public debt," he said. "There is no disagreement on this issue."
Venizelos, a veteran politician, steered Greece's preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He replaces Giorgos Papaconstantinou, who will become the environment minister, a government spokesman said.
"With the new composition of the government we make a new start," Prime Minister Papandreou told Parliament. "We face the biggest threat that our country has known over the last decades."
He said he tapped Venizelos to spearhead the implementation of what he called an "especially painful" and "difficult program of big structural changes that will lead our country to a viable economy during the following years."
Papandreou faces opposition from his party over the austerity measures needed to secure an additional bailout package.
The IMF said Thursday that it would continue to back Greece provided that Greece carried out the economic policy reforms agreed upon by the government.
The Greek government's popularity has plunged recently, and anti-government protests turned violent Wednesday, as demonstrators threw gasoline bombs at the Ministry of Finance and police fired tear gas at protesters, police said.
On June 9, the Cabinet approved a tough five-year plan for 2011-15 and introduced a bill in Parliament to put austerity measures into effect.
The government has said that the passage of these additional measures is essential to Greece's securing the fifth portion of the first 110 billion euro ($158 billion) bailout package that Greece signed with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to prevent the country from defaulting on its debts.
Treasury prices fell Friday as worries over Greece's debt crisis eased in light of a possible bailout and investors shifted into riskier assets, such as stocks.Journalist Elinda Labropoulou and CNN's Ben Brumfield contributed to this report
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