Germany Could Consider Debt Relief for Greece

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday that she would consider debt concessions for Greece, after the ailing Mediterranean country agrees on the latest economic reforms.

Speaking to ARD TV, Merkel claimed she could foresee reduced interest rates and extended maturity dates, the BBC reports, once the latest bailout proposal was worked out.

Despite the mitigating tone, the chancellor put her foot down at a debt write-off. "Greece has already been given relief. We had a voluntary haircut among the private creditors and we then extended maturities once and reduced interest rates," she said in the interview. "And we can now talk about such possibilities again... once the first successful review of the program to be negotiated has been completed, then exactly this question will be discussed - not now, but then," she said.

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Greece, as well as the International Monetary Fund, have pushed for a restructuring of the 320-billion-euro debt, saying that as it stands the situation is untenable.

A recent poll said that more than half of Germans were against the recent euro zone bailout package for Greece, a day after the German parliament approved a deal over the third debt relief package. Saturday's poll by YouGov said 53 percent of Germans saw the deal as bad. Only two percent said the deal was positive, while 27 percent said said it was “somehow positive”.

Meanwhile, former Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, said Saturday that the draconian austerity reforms imposed on Greece by European powers are “going to fail.”

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In an interview with the BBC, Varoufakis said the controversial austerity package will “go down in history as the greatest disaster of macroeconomic management ever."

The condemning words come as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras swore in new ministers Saturday after a cabinet shuffle. The move effectively removed dissident Syriza figures from key positions in Tsipras' government after 39 of the party's legislators refused to back the bailout package. "This program is going to fail whoever undertakes its implementation," the former Greek finance minister added.

WATCH: Interview with Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras