The euro zone will stand behind Greece, which is "under attack" by some investors, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Monday, but the bailout package will require harsh measures "for once" to be adopted by the cash-strapped country.

Lagarde acknowledged that investors have interpreted the response to the Greek debt situation as "chaotic," leading to volatility in the euro and a spiking higher of Greek bond yields as investors have awaited details on a rescue plan.

But when dealing with 15 sovereign countries being asked to bail out a struggling one of their own, the process is slow and complicated by local politics, Lagarde said.

Greek default is off the table, Lagarde said, saying "it will take what it will take," to rescue Greece .

Lagarde said the economic union--based on the common currency--means the euro zone shares a common fate, and must address the Greece situation together, along with the International Monetary Union and the European Union as a whole.

The IMF, Lagarde said, brings experience dealing with financially stressed countries.

To drag itself from the brink of default, Greece will have to change markedly, Lagarde said, cutting the salaries of civil servants by a "significant" amount, slashing public expenses and it must consider raising the retirement age. The IMF, Lagarde said, will monitor the implementation of Greece 's austerity plan.

That Greece got itself into this situation in the first place is partly because of inaccurate statistics reported on its budget and budget deficits. For that reason, Lagarde said, the E.U.'s statistics agency, Eurostat, must have the power to go over member states' finances with a fine-toothed comb.

The euro zone has been "too complacent" in auditing member states' books, she said.

Lagarde spoke at a forum entitled "Building a New Financial Order," which was held at a Citigroup conference center in downtown Manhattan and organized by BritishAmerican Business, Chatham House and the Foreign Policy Association.

In building a new financial order in the wake of the global financial crisis, attention must be paid to balancing economic growth, Lagarde said, with most growth in the wake of the crisis coming from emerging markets in Asia and Latin America , some growth coming from the U.S. , with the euro zone, U.K. and Japan lagging, she said.

At weekend discussions of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations, Lagarde said finance ministers called for more balanced growth, based on strong fundamentals, not just stoking by extraordinary measures enacted to stave financial crisis.

Growth also requires solid, restored public finances, Lagarde said. Countries can't keep borrowing from future generations to fuel today's growth, she said.

Meanwhile, financial markets require proper legislation to ensure healthy, stable growth, Lagarde said. At the G20 and IMF meetings in Washington over the weekend, Lagarde said, finance ministers discussed financial regulation, though she noted not all countries were on the same page about all regulations.

The E.U. will press hard, she said, for over-the-counter transactions to be regulated and cleared on open exchanges, referring to these transactions, many of which include derivatives, as "under-the-counter."

Addressing an IMF push for a global tax on financial institutions, Lagarde said banks should pay a "franchise price," which could take the form of a tax, that could be used to fill government coffers to deal with the price of a possible default.

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