Greek premier says ‘total’ consensus on austerity drive

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said yesterday there was “total convergence” among political allies on new austerity measures needed for a second bailout and debt cuts to avert default.

“This will allow us to negotiate in the best conditions,” Mr Papademos said after talks with his Socialist predecessor George Papandreou, Antonis Samaras, head of the centre-right New Democracy party, and far-right leader George Karatzaferis.

He said negotiations with creditors “are not easy . . . the partners want additional engagements and conditions,” and stressed that if the talks failed, Athens “faced the spectre of default.”

“We will together put up a hard fight to guarantee the country’s place in Europe and the eurozone . . . united we can succeed,” he said on the eve of a European Union summit on the debt crisis to be held in Brussels.

Mr Papademos sought agreement on the broad outlines of an accord with private creditors to erase €100 billion of Greece’s debt, and the new recovery plan put forward by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The eurozone and the IMF are demanding this commitment, even asking for it in writing, for the second time since November, so that Greece will stay on the straight and narrow through early elections to be held in the spring.

Mr Samaras, a longtime proponent of EU-IMF remedies, is tipped to win the polls.

Meanwhile German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler backed beefed-up EU monitoring of Greece in an interview to be published today, after Athens dismissed calls for it to give up control over its budget.

Mr Roesler told the daily Bild that the European Union should step in to ensure that Greece toes the line of budget austerity. “We need more leadership and monitoring in implementing the course of reform (in Greece),” he was quoted as saying.