European states will remain tied to the eurozone, according to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble.
"Despite all the uncertainty, I see all the member states of Europe sticking to a common monetary union," he said last night in a speech at the Bank of Thailand.
Financial markets have been rumbling about the possibility of Greece leaving the eurozone as the country struggles to slash spending and meet terms set by the "troika" of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Mr Schauble views the debt crisis as an "opportunity to take structural reforms that would not be made in normal times", pointing to Thailand's experience in the years following the 1997 economic crisis.
He said the crisis had shown that while the free market is key to promoting growth and jobs, rules are necessary.
"Regulation is not an end in itself. We need regulations conducive to sustainable and tenable growth," he said.
A stable currency remains central to the European growth model, Mr Schauble said, and balance is needed between fiscal consolidation and policies promoting growth and job creation.
"The issues are complex and need to take time. But you can be sure that we will deliver, step-by-step," Mr Schauble said, pointing to progress made in the framework for a banking and fiscal union within the bloc.
But measures must be carefully structured to avoid "wrong incentives", such as the proposed issue of eurobonds that would allow countries to issue debt with credit risks shared across the eurozone.
"Issuing eurobonds is a form of the wrong incentive," he said. Differences in competitiveness within the eurozone also need to be addressed, he added.
Spain and Italy saw labour costs rise following the adoption of the euro, but not as a result of gains in productivity and competitiveness, Mr Schauble said.
"This needs to be corrected. Germany is trying to push countries to undertake structural reforms," he said.
The European debt crisis dominated discussions at yesterday's 10th Asia-Europe Finance Ministers' Meeting.
The 46 finance ministers representing Asian and European countries agreed to take steps to boost trade and investment and guard against protectionism.
Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong, who chaired the meeting, said Asia's sound economic fundamentals gave the region room to help Europe in its time of crisis. "It's an opportunity for us to reciprocate by being better customers for European goods and in the process creating jobs in Europe," he said.
Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs and the euro, expressed confidence that the eurozone would remain intact. He said the mechanisms to avert the crisis were in place and progress had been made.
"We have all the determination to ensure that the euro is irreversible. There is no real prospect of any breakup or disintegration of the euro," he said.