(ANSA) - Rome, December 31 - Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Friday vowed to keep his government afloat despite its wafer-thin majority and avert elections he said the country did not need.

"(Italy) needs everything except early elections," the premier said in a phone call to one of his TV channels, rebutting a claim by key ally the Northern League earlier this week that the government might not have the numbers to go on.

He recalled that the government had won two confidence votes in the last two months, albeit by only three votes on the second occasion on December 14.

"Everyone, from the Catholic Church to the business community, is urging us to make an effort to avert elections," he said, vowing to complete the government's reform programme and last until the end of its term in 2013.

Among the key upcoming reforms, he cited a revamp of the tax system including a bonus for households with children and an institutional reform to boost the powers of the executive branch and streamline lawmaking by turning the Senate into a regional assembly so that laws would only have to go through the House.

Berlusconi said he hoped that relations between the government and the opposition will become "more serene".

"We can do it if we set aside useless polemics," the combative premier said, wishing Italians a Happy New Year.

Berlusconi also hailed this week's accord between Fiat and moderate unions to maintain production levels at its Italian plants.

Northern League leader Umberto Bossi again stressed the importance of the government having a solid majority in the House to pass its measures after a split by House Speaker Gianfranco Fini, once Berlusconi's heir-apparent, left the premier hard-pressed to survive the December 14 vote.

He said Berlusconi had assured him he "has the numbers". Bossi, whose influence on government was cited by Fini as one of the reasons for his decision to break away, reiterated his determination to see the League's long-cherished goal of fiscal federalism achieved so that most of the North's tax money is spent where it is generated.

The centrist Catholic UDC party, which has set up a 'third pole' with Fini's new Future and Freedom for Italy (FLI) party, said it was "willing to work with the government" in key areas.