BRUSSELS — To many Greeks, the debt the country has amassed is the evil fruit of austerity policies, imposed from the outside, that asphyxiated its economy and trampled on its sovereignty.

To the International Monetary Fund, the debt of more than 310 billion euros, or almost $339 billion, is more of a mathematical problem. After years in which it was a stern advocate of tough austerity policies, it now says that there is no way that Greece can reasonably pay its debts and that a substantial amount of it needs to be forgiven.

Then there is Germany, Greece’s largest single creditor, which treats Greece’s debts as a sacrosanct commitment that must be paid as a matter of law and of principle.