Greece will not tear eurozone apart: ECB's Nowotny

(VIENNA) - The current crisis in Greece's finances will not lead to a breakup of the eurozone, a top European Central Bank official assured on Thursday but signalled that Greece could not count on help.

ECB governing council member and Austrian central bank chief Ewald Nowotny, when asked at a news conference here if the situation in Greece would turn into a tensile test for the eurozone as a whole, replied: "No, I do not see this in any way."

He said: "An exit or something similar from the eurozone would be totally unrealistic for Greece, and also not do-able."

As head of the Austrian central bank OeNB, Nowotny sits on the ECB's policy-making governing council and he said the ECB was watching the situation closely.

Nevertheless, it was not the bank's job to take direct action, he insisted.

"It is also not our task to help out here specifically," he said.

"The 'No bailout' principle is anchored in the EU treaty and has to be taken absolutely seriously. It is not possible to defuse the problem here through direct financing."

Earlier in Bonn, the president of the eurogroup, which unites the 16 countries that share the euro, Jean-Claude Juncker said the budget situation in Greece was "tense" but the country should avoid bankruptcy.

Speaking at a meeting of centre-right EU leaders from the European People's Party, Juncker said of the crisis in Greece, a eurozone country: "The budgetary situation is very tense, that's the least you can say."

Juncker, who is also prime minister of Luxembourg, said: "I totally exclude a state bankruptcy in Greece."

Greece's sovereign debt was downgraded on Tuesday by the international ratings agency Fitch, prompting financial market jitters amid a collapse in confidence in the Greek economy.

Internal eurozone worries are now beginning to extend to Ireland and Spain, which have each received warnings from the ratings agencies. Standard and Poor's has also since cast doubts over Portugal's prospects.

The affair has put significant downward pressure on the euro in the international foreign exchange markets.