Greek prime minister George Papandreou told the BBC in an exclusive interview on February 21 2010 that Athens is not looking for a bailout but will require political support to implement its "stability and growth" scheme to slash its debt levels effectively.

What is vital in this case is that the country would be allowed to borrow money at "the same interest rate as other countries", he said.

With a budget deficit reaching 12.7 per cent, more than four times the rate allowed in the Eurozone, Greece's public debt currently amounts to nearly 120 per cent of its GDP.

According to Papandreou, the country aims to cut its deficit down to 2.8 per cent.

"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," Papandreou said as quoted by the ER1, Greece's national television website.

"What we're seeing here, and I haven't seen this except during the Olympic Games in 2004, is a real sense of unity by the Greek people of wanting to make a change," he said.

The Greek prime minister said in the interview that in spite of nationwide demonstrations against the Pasok-led austerity programme, there is widespread support for the scheme implemented by his government to fight its way out of the financial crisis.

"Let us get together with the EU authorities, the Commission and the European Central Bank, let's sit down, let's look at how our progress is doing, how we're doing in the stability and growth plan that we have tabled," he added.

Last week, Papandreou blamed the European Union and the former conservative government, New Democracy, for the country's dire finances.

He accused the European Union of not verifying the figures of the former New Democracy government, who projected that the budget deficit for 2009 would be 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), instead of the 12.7 per cent it was in reality. In Papandreou's opinion the previous administration is responsible for the country's debts.

The Greek debt has accumulated over the course of decades during which time Pasok was also in power. Before New Democracy came to power under Kostas Karamanlis, Pasok was leading the country under former prime minister Costas Simitis who held office as late as March 2004, just before the Olympics in Athens. It was under Pasok that public spending on infrastructure projects increased, especially on the eve of the Olympics, spending that was also, in the view of some commentators, "unregulated" and "unchecked" by Europe.

In the interview with the BBC, however, 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.

According to the Greek national television website, a delegation comprised of EU Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund officials are flying to Athens in the next few days to monitor fiscal measures.