Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said support of an austerity bill and the 2012 budget in Parliament before a European Union summit later this month will help “difficult” talks.

“Parliament’s support of basic decisions we have taken before the summit will be an important step to achieve the best terms in a difficult negotiation,” Papandreou told his Cabinet in Athens today, according to an e-mailed transcript of his comments.

Papandreou said the government was “negotiating in every way on lightening the debt” and that the country needed to stop producing deficits. He repeated the goal of a primary surplus for next year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Weeks in Athens at nweeks2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maria Petrakis at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net