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German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he felt great sympathy for the people of Greece in their efforts to restart their economy and put their finances in order, in an interview to be published Sunday.

“I very much empathize with the Greek people,” Schaeuble told the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel, after sharp criticism of his comment that Greece should not hold early elections.

In a radio interview on Wednesday, Schaeuble had said: “Who will make sure that after the elections, for which the Greek parties have opted in April — and I find that very questionable — who will ensure that Greece will stand by what we have now agreed,” Schaeuble said.

Greek President Carolos Papoulias tore into Schaeuble over the remarks.

“I do not accept having my country taunted by Mr Schaeuble, as a Greek I do not accept it,” Papoulias said.

Schaeuble told the Tagesspiegel: “The large majority of those hit by the reforms and austerity measures — and let me express my great respect for them — are not responsible for the backlog of reforms, the loss of competitiveness or the unproductive use of funds in the past”.

But Schaeuble also said that while Greek anger and indignation about lower minimum wages were understandable, they would still be “about on the same level as those of Spain”.

And “what should people in eastern Europe and the Baltic countries say where the minimum salary is still much lower, but which also contribute to help Greece?” he added.

Germany has led calls in the European Union and the 17-member eurozone for tighter control over Greek finances to ensure that the fiscal recovery plan is applied, pointing to target slippage in the last two years.

Greece has fallen behind with structural reforms and state privatisations, with the government arguing that a greater-than-forecast recession is complicating the recovery process.

Greek Economy Minister Michalis Chryssohoidis has also come out against early elections, saying Prime Minister Lucas Papademos should remain in office until 2013,

“I believe that the elections have to take place at the end of the constitutional term of this government, that is 2013,” he told foreign journalists in Frankfurt late Wednesday.

That was the view of his whole party, the Socialist PASOK party, the minister claimed.

On Monday, the Greek coalition government said elections would be held in April after a controversial and complex second debt bailout package was approved and put in place.

Papademos, who formed the government in November after the fall of George Papandreou’s PASOK administration, said from the start that he did not intend to serve the full two years remaining of parliament’s mandate.

He said that his only aim was to negotiate the writedown of part of Athens’ debt and ensure it qualified for a new European bailout of 130 billion euros (9 billion).