In an interview with the newspaper, Papademos also urged Greek politicians to pass the economic measures demanded by Greece's foreign lenders in exchange for bailout aid, saying vested interests were blocking changes needed to revive the moribund economy.

Papademos said that if Greece did not receive 100 percent participation in a program in which bondholders would voluntarily write down $130 billion from Greece's $450 billion debt, the country would consider passing a law to require the holdouts to take losses.

"It is something that has to be considered in the light of expectations about the degree of the participation to be achieved," Papademos was quoted as saying.

"It cannot be excluded. It is contingent on the percentage."

The comments came as international private sector creditors represented by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) were set to meet the government on Wednesday afternoon. Talks broke down on Friday over the interest rate Greece will offer on new bonds and a plan to enforce investor losses.

Many private investors, like hedge funds, pension funds and banks, would just as soon see an involuntary default, because much of their holdings are insured through credit default swaps, the Times reported.

But the prime minister was quoted as saying he expected the talks to be completed successfully.

"The talks are not straightforward, because they aim at a voluntary restructuring of public debt, and to achieve a number of objectives simultaneously, objectives that involve trade-offs," Papademos said. "Taking into account the complexity of the exercise, I would say that we are very close to reaching an agreement."

A team of European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank officials are combing through Greece's books as part of efforts to put together a 130-billion-euro rescue package the country needs to stay afloat.