Germany's economy minister said in an interview today that possible talks on reducing Greece's debt were not imaginable before Athens implements reforms.
Sigmar Gabriel told Stern's online edition that simply cancelling debt without many fundamental changes in Greece would not reap any benefit.
He was quoted as saying that one could "only talk about the possibility of decreasing the debts when the Greek government also shows that it is implementing reforms".
Otherwise, he warned, the debts would immediately mount up again the day after any debt restructuring.
Germany is currently standing firm in refusing to negotiate a restructuring of Greece's debt.
Regarding requests by Athens on the issue, German finance ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said Monday: "I can see no reason to enter into discussions."
Gabriel, a Social Democrat who is also Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy in a left-right coalition, also told Stern that from today's viewpoint, it had been "very naive" to allow Greece to join the eurozone.
"Worse, however, is that everyone watched on for much too long" as the country sunk deeper into crisis, he said.
Gabriel warned a lesson learned was "never again to look away when a country doesn't keep to the rules in Europe", saying this also applied to non-financial matters.
