Deutsche Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann, who is also a member of the ECB Governing Council, said on Friday that the ECB's Outright Monetary Transactions program could diminish EU Member States' reform efforts. He stressed that national governments were responsible for ensuring an adequate recapitalization of banks.

“I think we are no longer in the core area of monetary policy” Mr Weidmann said referring to ECB's OMT scheme.

As far as Greece is concerned, the Buba head declared that the distressed country would need more time than other EU nations to carry out reforms. Even though a Greek debt haircut has not been rejected, implementing it without the accompanying reforms would not bring the desired effects. A potential writedown could also discourage other EU countries from applying reforms.

Mr Weidmann also expressed confidence that France would manage to make head against its budgetary challenges.

Eurozone officially in recession

Third quarter GDP data for the Eurozone published on Thursday revealed that the area has once again slipped into recession. According to Eurostat Q3 GDP was down by 0.1%, which is the second consecutive quarterly decline. Only the German and French economies expanded, both by 0.2%.

Martin van Vliet from ING comments: “Today’s GDP figures clearly demonstrate that the Eurozone economy as a whole is in desperate need of macroeconomic stimulus. With policymakers seemingly reluctant to engineer a coordinated pull-back from fiscal austerity, more monetary stimulus and a weaker currency is likely to be needed to put Eurozone back on a path of sustained growth.”

IMF: EU needs to take 'other actions' to help Greece

The International Monetary Fund's debt-reduction target for Greece is non-negotiable, IMF spokesman William Murray said Thursday, adding that the European Union must take "other actions" to ease the country's debt burden. Meanwhile, Europe is opposed to restructuring its Greek debt.

"Critical to us is Greece's debt sustainability. That means that by 2020, we want to see Greece's debt at 120% of its gross domestic product", Murray said. "Clearly there have to be other actions taken to make sure that we reach a sustainable debt position in Greece".

Murray said the IMF has already extended the maturities and lowered the interest rates for some of its loans to Greece, and can't do more. Nevertheless, IMF spokesman said talks with Greece aren't deadlocked.

"We want a real fix, not a short term fix, a quick fix isn't going to work right now".