British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday that Greece would find it difficult to leave the eurozone, on the eve of a Brussels meeting aimed at securing a new deal to manage the country's debts.
While refusing to speculate on the likelihood of Athens exiting from the shared currency, which Britain is not part of, the eurosceptic cabinet minister acknowledged it was a possibility.
"You can make the argument either way. If you are Greek, you can say, 'let's take control of our own destiny'. On the other hand it's not straightforward to leave the euro," Hague told the BBC.
"There is no legal provision even for a country to leave the euro and stay in the European Union at the moment.
"And they don't have the old currency sitting in the vaults ready to distribute. They have to be prepared to take action to stop euros leaving the country, maybe have border controls.
"It was built with no exits, the euro. So it's not easy either way."
Hague repeated previous assurances that Britain was prepared for any eventuality, but said: "What we need for our country is an end to the uncertainty."
He told the BBC: "We have prepared contingency plans, for if we need to help British nationals who are there in any way -- we keep those up to date on a daily basis.
"But it's now for the eurozone and for the Greeks to sort out what will happen."
Eurozone finance ministers are meeting on Monday to finalise a deal to write off 100 billion euros ($130 billion) of Greek debt and provide a loan of 130 billion euros, to help Athens meet a major bond repayment due in March.
They hope the second bailout will quell suggestions that Athens could be pushed out of the European currency area.