German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Friday a disorderly Greek exit from the euro could not be excluded if Athens fails to reach a deal with its international creditors.
Interviewed on Austrian public TV channel ORF on the possibility of a "Grexident", or a messy exit from the common currency, Schaeuble said, "We can`t exclude it."
"To the extent that Greece is solely responsible and decides what is to happen, and we don`t know exactly what Greek leaders are doing, we can`t exclude it," he said.
"Europe is ready to help Greece, but Greece must let itself be helped," added Schaeuble, who has championed tough austerity and reform demands in return for aid to Athens.
Greece reversed course and agreed in February to a four-month extension of its international bailout despite the new anti-austerity Syriza government wanting a completely new arrangement.
However, Athens will not get any of the remaining funds under the bailout until it details its reform plans, and is scrambling to find cash to meet debt payments coming due this month.
Substantive talks between Greece and its bailout partners resumed this week, but tensions between Greek and European leaders have flared.
At a conference Thursday in Vienna, Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling expressed concern that the political inexperience of Greece`s new leaders "increased the risk of a possible accident."
Schaeuble, who also participated in the conference, said that in his view "Greece is in no way a lost cause".
