Eurogroup's Juncker-Greece must make more effort

Speaking on Deutschlandfunk German radio, Juncker, who heads the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, said if Greece failed to convince its peers within the monetary union with its austerity measures, it faced the risk of sanctions.

"Greece must know that taxpayers in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg aren't ready to correct the failings of Greek budgetary policy," said Juncker, who is currently attending a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.

"We in the Eurogroup have agreed that Greece will have to undertake additional efforts," he said. The radio station also asked Juncker whether the euro zone finance ministers had discussed the option of providing aid to Athens, possibly under the aegis of a financial commissioner who would oversee economic developments in the country.

"We certainly did discuss such measures," he said.

Amid reports European Union finance ministers had chosen Portugal's Vitor Constancio to be the next vice-president of the European Central Bank, Juncker was asked if this paved the way for Bundesbank President Axel Weber to head the ECB in 2011.

"I don't see it like that," he said, noting that Luxembourg's central bank Governor Yves Mersch had a proven track record, thereby making him a possible candidate to succeed ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet when his term ends next year.

"Germany will have to fight to appoint the next ECB chief," said Juncker, who is also Prime Minister of Luxembourg.

"This short-term policy ... of ensuring that someone from southern Europe will be vice president of the bank so that someone from northern Europe -- i.e. Germany -- becomes president of the European Central Bank, is to take a very short-term view of things," Juncker said.

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Sarah Marsh, editing by Mike Peacock)