Greece needs EU support, not bailout: PM

(LONDON) - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Friday that his country needs support from EU partners for its austerity programme but is not looking for a bailout.

"We're not looking for bailouts," Papandreou said in a speech to an international conference of centre-left parties in London.

"We're simply saying we have a programme... and we need support for this programme."

Greece has been under pressure on financial markets after revealing an estimated budget deficit of 12.7 percent -- the highest level in the eurozone and more than four times higher the required EU level.

Fears over Greece have also hit the euro and European stock markets.

European Union finance ministers this week backed moves to force Athens to prepare "additional measures" by March 16 to put its finances in order.

Addressing the same conference on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero insisted that Greece "deserves the trust" of European institutions and markets. Spain is currently EU president.

"He (Papandreou) has the trust of all the European governments," he said.

The Greek premier's "calm, unflappable performance and persona" also drew praise from Britain's Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, a former EU trade commissioner.

"It doesn't just reassure the markets... but it gives us tremendous confidence and faith in you and your government to solve the problems inherited," Mandelson added.

Papandreou meanwhile denied that Greece as a whole was "reckless" and said it wanted to be able to borrow "on the same terms as other countries in the EU and the eurozone."

In addition, he pledged to do "whatever necessary" to hit its targets.

"Yes, the previous Greek government was reckless," he said. "But it's a fallacy to say that the Greeks are reckless because that would simply mean that the problem is a problem of DNA."

He warned it would be "very cosy" to see Greece's problems as only relevant to his country, saying they also affected other nations.