Germany's deputy Finance Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday that the German government was ready to talk about debt relief for Greece.

"A so-called haircut is not legal, where you give up some debt ... but under the term debt relief you can also talk about extending maturities, having a period without making interest payments or redemption payments and we can talk about that, we have always said that," he said.

Spahn pointed out that some outstanding questions, such as on privatizations and banking recapitalization, had to be addressed this week.

He added that the German government wants that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stayed involved in the process.