Instead, Berlin is far more worried, as Mr. Jen puts it, about the supposed “contagion of bad behavior” in other countries like Portugal and Spain that might follow if Greece were to become the beneficiary of a bailout on relatively generous terms.

Image A closed bank in Athens with graffiti that reads “thieves.” The debt crisis has prompted outflows of funds from Greek banks. Credit... Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images

“This should be easy to do; Greece is only 3 percent of Europe’s G.D.P.,” said Paul De Grauwe, an economist based in Brussels who advises the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. “But this is no longer a financial issue. It is about politics and nationalism, and it is a real setback for those who believed in a united Europe.”

There are unmistakable signs that individuals and corporations are withdrawing funds from Greek banks, although the sums involved do not yet constitute a bank run.

Still, weakened Greek banks, increasingly shut out of the capital markets, have become largely dependent on the European Central Bank and have turned to the Greek government to release more money from a previously established rescue fund.

The Greek government is coming close to giving up on private investors as well. While Athens said it would go ahead with its short-term borrowing auctions this week, the planned fund-raising trip this month by Greece’s finance minister, George Papaconstantinou, to tap Wall Street investors is unlikely to happen as long as Greek borrowing costs remain high, said a person who was briefed on his plans.

Greece’s hope is that it will be able to borrow as much as 30 billion euros ($40 billion) from Europe and the I.M.F. at a rate of about 4 percent or so, which is consistent with the terms offered by the fund to other indebted countries.