German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said today he did not expect Greece to try and tap a European and International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid package by mid-May.
Asked if Greece would call on the aid by then, Mr Schaeuble told Deutschlandfunk radio: "I tend not to think so. Greece hasn't any problems securing the necessary financing on bond markets this week.
"Preparing for the worst case does not mean it occurs, but rather that one tries to avoid it," he said.
Polls show Germans are strongly opposed to a bailout for Greece. Facing a key state election on May 9th, Chancellor Angela Merkel has been reluctant to pledge any aid in the run-up to the vote.
Germany's main opposition party threatened yesterday to block government plans to fast-track parliamentary approval of aid for debt-ravaged Greece, a move which could end up delaying a critical bailout for weeks. If Germany acquiesced immediately after the election, that would leave a small window to secure parliament's approval before a key trigger event in Greece's struggle to manage its debt - the May 19th refinancing of an €8.5 billion euro bond.
Mr Schaeuble said Germany had shown it could get the necessary parliamentary approval quickly if needed.
"In the past, with other cases we have shown over and over that our parliament - if there is such a need - has been able to act quickly," he said.
A euro zone source said yesterday that euro zone finance ministers would check at their regular meeting on May 17th in Brussels whether all member states were ready to provide emergency loans to Greece.
Greece started talks to hammer out details of a potential European and IMF aid deal yesterday but increasingly impatient investors dumped Greek assets.
Asked why investors were losing more confidence in Greece, Mr Schaeuble said: "Because there is still speculation on whether this really works but you saw how the markets calmed down after the decision by finance ministers on the Sunday (before last).
"The markets calmed right down. They are up and down every day and so we are not taking part in speculation," he said.
Mr Schaeuble said Greece's budget savings programme for this year was "extraordinarily ambitious ... If it is implemented it is sufficient."
"Now the checks that began yesterday are looking at the question of 'what must Greece do in 2011 and 2012?'.
"And if Greece accomplishes a similarly convincing programme, then that together with the statement from the IMF and the Eurogroup that we are protecting Greece from speculative exaggerations - that will have an effect on the markets."
Turning to a possible bank levy to fund bank bailouts, Mr Schaeuble saw a good chance of an international agreement.
Reuters