For his part, Schaeuble rejected the claims that Germany's response to the Greek crisis was being driven by the election calendar. Instead, he defended the Tuesday deal, saying it leaves no doubt that Greece must first implement austerity measures and structural reforms for the bailout to work.
But Schaeuble acknowledged that the new measures for Greece not only consist of loans but might cost Germany up to €730 million ($950 million) next year alone.
Ulrich Kater, the chief economist of Germany's DekaBank, said it was understandable that the German government didn't want to make far-reaching decisions ahead of an election.
"That shows how difficult it is to manage the eurozone, with its 17 nations where there's always an election looming somewhere," he said.
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Juergen Baetz can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jbaetz
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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