The European Union executive denied on Monday a German magazine report that the euro zone could provide aid to Greece of 20-25 billion euros ($27-$33.7 billion U.S.), saying no such plan existed.
"I have no comment on such a plan that does not exist and is denied even by the alleged source of it," European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj told a news briefing.
German weekly Der Spiegel said on Saturday that the German finance ministry had sketched out a plan in which countries using the euro currency would provide aid worth between 20 billion and 25 billion euros for Greece.
The magazine said the share of financial aid would be calculated according to the proportion of capital each country holds in the European Central Bank and that the assistance should take the form of loans and guarantees.
The report said all euro countries would shoulder the burden and that Germany's share in the package would amount to 4-5 billion euros, and be handled by state-owned bank KfW.
"I was reading the papers when I also realised that in fact there is no such plan," Altafaj said.
Under the German plan, the aid should be tied to strict conditions, the magazine said, adding that loan tranches should be paid out only once these were met.
A German finance ministry spokesman said on Monday Germany had not made a decision on aid for Greece and expected the debt-ridden country to be able to refinance in April.
Altafaj reiterated that an E.U. leaders' summit on Feb. 11 and a meeting of E.U. finance ministers the following week had said the euro zone was ready to take determined and coordinated action to safeguard the stability of the euro zone if needed.
Asked whether he could confirm or deny that European Commission experts were working on a detailed rescue plan in case Greece requested help, Altafaj said:
"I will not answer by a yes or no to that question. Experts do their job, they are technicians. I base my communication on political decisions," he said.
"The European Council (of E.U. leaders) has spoken, the Eurogroup and Ecofin Council (of finance ministers) have spoken on the issue," he said.
"They are ready and they are determined to take firm, coordinated action if needed, but there is no such plan, there is not a single euro, because Greece has not requested one single euro of financial aid," he said.
He said E.U. statistics office Eurostat received last Friday part of the information requested from Athens regarding the past use of derivatives in Greek budget deficit accounting.
The data yet to be received was requested on a different date and expected to arrive at Eurostat soon, Altafaj said.
The Commission has asked Greece and other countries with deficits above the E.U. ceiling of 3% of gross domestic product for data on use of any complex financial instruments in budget accounting that could change the size of the shortfall.
