Greece has still not met European Union demands for details about an additional 325 million euros in spending cuts, leading to the cancellation of the planned Euro Group meeting on Wednesday. Political leaders in Germany are getting nervous -- and increasingly impatient.

Greek flags for sale in a kiosk in Athens. Photo: dapd.

Let's hope Europe is prepared for a Greek bankruptcy. That was the message delivered by former German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck during a Tuesday evening appearance at the Woman's National Democratic Club in Washington. Were he still in charge of German finances, he says, he would have ordered his experts "half a year ago" to come up with a plan B. "I would have liked to have been prepared for a Greek insolvency," he said.

Steinbruck's comments came immediately following an announcement by the Euro Group head, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, that he had cancelled a Wednesday meeting of euro-zone finance ministers because Greece had yet to meet conditions demanded by Brussels. Steinbruck called the cancellation an "escalation."

The comments by Steinbruck, a senior member of Germany's opposition Social Democrats and a possible candidate for chancellor in next year's general elections, are just the latest sign that leading politicians in Europe are beginning to think seriously about a Greek insolvency. On Monday evening, current German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble indicated that Europe was much better prepared for such an eventuality than it was two years ago.

Angel Gurria, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), agreed with Schauble on Tuesday, though he warned that a Greek bankruptcy could be messy. "Although we are better off today than we were two years ago for that kind of a scenario, we really don't know which unexpected consequences may happen," he said, according to the Associated Press.