June 25 (Reuters) – Greece’s pension reform will be fair and is needed to make the system viable, Prime Minister George Papandreou told parliament ahead of a cabinet meeting meant to agree a pension reform plan.

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“Today we want to succeed on two fronts, to have a pension system that is viable … and fair,” the Prime Minister said on Friday.

Opinion polls show a very large majority of Greeks oppose the pension reform and unions will stage a general 24-hour strike on June 29.

The cabinet meeting is meant to agree on a major overhaul of the debt-choked country’s ailing pension system and to ease labour rules to make it easier to fire staff, key requirements of a 110-billion euro EU/IMF bailout programme. (Reporting by Tatiana Fragou and Ingrid Melander)