In the talks between Greece and its creditors, there is a growing recognition that Greece’s debt burden must be eased. On Thursday, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund said that European countries needed to come up with a concrete plan for easing Greece’s debt before the fund would participate in any new bailout.

But leaders elsewhere in Europe believe that Greek leaders have not done enough to reduce debt and achieve better growth, by selling state assets, cracking down on tax evasion or reducing red tape.

Image Om July 3, Ioannis Mytaras waited at the National Bank of Greece in central Athens. Customers could withdraw up to 120 euros. Credit... Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

“Some debt relief will be needed,” said a senior official at the European Central Bank who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But it’s important that it be linked to reforms which ensure that Greece can grow again.”

Growth was never the primary consideration when Greece first started receiving bailouts.

Back in 2010, political leaders in the eurozone as well as top officials of the International Monetary Fund were terrified that Greece would default on its debts, imposing huge losses on banks and other investors and threatening a renewed financial crisis. The debt was largely held by Greek and international banks. And Greece, officials feared, could be another Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that collapsed in 2008, setting off a global panic.

Forcing banks to take losses on Greek debt “would have had immediate and devastating implications for the Greek banking system, not to mention the broader spillover effects,” said John Lipsky, first deputy managing director of the I.M.F. at the time, during a contentious meeting of the organization’s executive board in May 2010, according to recently disclosed minutes.

To prevent Greece from defaulting on debts, creditors granted Athens a €110 billion bailout in May 2010. But that did not calm fears that other heavily indebted countries might also default. The Greek lifeline was soon followed by bailouts for Ireland and Portugal.