Unveiling his policy platform in Parliament late on Monday, at the start of a three-day debate that will culminate in a vote of confidence for the new three-party cooperation government, new Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said that the first priority will be to unlock the 6th tranche of EU-IMF bailout loans for Greece, by December 15 at the latest.

"Greece is at a particularly crucial crossroads and the choices we make about the policy to be followed will be of definitive importance for the prosperity of the Greek people," he said.

Describing his government as a "bridge that will facilitate the country's transition to fiscal reform and a developmental course," he stressed that it will seek to implement the commitments arising from the decisions made by Eurozone leaders on October 26 and the economic policies associated with them.

Papademos said that the actions for meeting these commitments will be handled exclusively by the Greek finance ministry and stressed that the new government had to get started straight away and move quickly, since the work to be done was disproportionately large relative to its planned duration.

He listed four priorities, starting with the release of the 6th tranche of bailout loans, completing talks with the EU-IMF troika on the second bailout, the signature of the new loan agreement by the end of the year and passing the state budget.

Greece will soon make an official announcement concerning the PSI bond exchange programme, he added.

"We are taking charge at this crucial time because the country's participation in the euro is at stake," Papademos said, stressing that a condition for success was to "regain confidence in our own strength".

He said the government will seek to carry out structural reforms that will improve the competitiveness of the Greek economy, focusing especially on the implementation of those changes that had already been passed into law, such as the new wage scale and reorganisation of the public sector, policies in labour law, the opening of closed professions and action to ensure the viability of pension funds and support society's weakest and most vulnerable.

Among these he emphasised policies designed to boost employment, lower the cost of the health system by extending e-prescription systems, reducing drug costs and restricting pharma profits and others.

He also called for the need to adjust the National Strategic Reference Framework to reflect the new conditions, based on the Eurozone leaders' agreement of October 26 and referred to the need for reforms designed to support and encourage Greece's export sector, or to follow through the reforms already initiated in the education sector.

The new Greek prime minister, a former central banker and economic policy expert, said that the policies so far attached with the bailout package for Greece had deepened the recession and increased unemployment but appeared confident that this could be mitigated through reforms.

He particularly emphasised the need to broaden the tax base and clamp down on tax evasion in order to emerge from the crisis.

Praising the leaders of the three parties that agreed to participate in his government, he said their decision was an important step in the direction of consensus and understanding for the country's salvation.

Calling on the party leaders to support his government, Papademos stressed that this was not a demand of "faceless" organisations but of the national governments and tax-payers of other countries that were giving their support to Greece.

He also underlined several times that the way forward for Greece was within the euro, stressing that this made conditions for a recovery easier and not harder, providing monetary stability and contributing to the cohesion and solidarity of European peoples.

The debate in the Greek Parliament will continue on Tuesday and culminate in confidence motion on Wednesday afternoon.