European leaders bat away Greece questions but Spain says Athens will need third bailout

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker have rejected claims that Greece would require a third economic bailout.

It is too early to discuss a new bailout package, Juncker said, with Athens only having recently agreed to extend its second bailout.

"We are going to focus on what was agreed in the Eurogroup," he said, adding that it was "premature" to speculate about a third economic assistance programme.

European leaders "have all our hands full," Merkel said at joint press conference with Juncker.

The prospect of a third Greek bailout was raised after Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Greece would eventually need a third bailout.

De Guindos on Wednesday (4 March) repeated his comment that Greece will need a third rescue package, in the region of €30bn (£23bn, $33bn) to €50bn.

"We have given ourselves these four months to one, see what the real situation is, to see how Greece has met conditions and to try and establish what happens next ... which is fundamentally a third rescue," he told a conference in Barcelona.

"If Greece cannot gain access to the markets between now and June ... we must establish a new agreement with Greece. We can call it an agreement, accord, pact, programme, but it is that," he said.

The Spanish economy minister's comments earlier this week caused the Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem to deny that the group was working on a third bailout.

Meanwhile, Juncker risked alienating the government in Athens after he was quoted by the Spanish newspaper El Pais on Wednesday, urging the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to explain to the Greek electorate that "the promises upon which he was elected will not be honoured".

Syriza has yet to offer an official response to the comments.