Greece has threatened the rest of Europe with a “wave of economic migrants” that could include Isis militants if the country is allowed to go bust by international lenders.

In a shock escalation of the rhetoric surrounding bailout talks in Brussels, the Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos vowed: “If they strike us, we will strike them.”

European creditors told Athens to stop “wasting time” putting forward its proposals for economic reforms pledged by the new left-wing Syriza-led coalition government.

If an agreement cannot be reached, the International Monetary Fund has said it will discontinue payments on a £172 billion bailout, forcing Greece to go bust and crash out of the eurozone. Mr Kammenos said: “If they deal a blow to Greece, then they should know the the migrants will get papers to go to Berlin.”

“If Europe leaves us in the crisis, we will flood it with migrants, and it will be even worse for Berlin if in that wave of millions of economic migrants there will be some jihadists of the Islamic State too.

Mr Kammenos, who is also the leader of Syriza’s minor coalition partners Independent Greeks, specifically referred to the Schengen area of free travel in his threat, and said his country would give all comers papers so they “could go straight to Berlin”.

Greece elections 2015: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A supporter of Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, holds the Greek and French flag during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, cheer during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, speaks during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, cheer during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras, opposition leader and head of radical leftist Syriza party, greets supporters after the initial election results for the Greece general elections in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of Germany's left-wing Die Linke party, hold placards as they show their support to Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party after his speech to supporters in central Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A woman waves a Greek flag during a speech by the leader of Syriza left-wing party Alexis Tsipras outside Athens University Headquarters Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Anti austerity Syriza party supporters celebrate as leader Alexis Tsipras speaks folllowing victory in the election in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Greece's Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras waves to his supporters as he arrivess at Zappeio Conference Hall in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of New Democracy wave Greek flags during Antonis Samaras pre-election speech AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A voter casts his ballot in front of a map of Greece at a polling station in a school in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in a school in a suburb of Athens near Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of the opposition radical leftist Syriza party cheer at exit poll results which indicate that Syriza have a clear lead in in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Anti-austerity Syriza supporters celebrate after the first exit polls, as they gather at the Syriza election kiosk in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Media crew set up in the balconies of a hotel overlooking the Greek Parliament building in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Political party papers are organised at a polling station in a school in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 The Greek flag flies on top of the Greek parliament in Athens, as the nation goes to the polls. Greece votes in a crucial general election that could bring the anti-austerity Syriza party to power and lead to a re-negotiation of the country's international bailout Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras is welcomed as he arrives for a pre-election campaign speech AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Prime Minister and leader of the conservative New Democracy party Antonis Samara delivers a pre-election speech Getty Images Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 The Leader of Pasok (Panhellenic Socialist Movement) Evangelos Venizelos speaks during a parliament meeting in December 2014 AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras, head of the Syriza left-wing main opposition party, on the campaign trail AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Election posters for the communist party adorn a derelict shop in Athens Getty Images Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Ballet dancers, performing for a film in Athens, dance in front of the Parliament building ahead of the general election Getty Images Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Workers put up polling station signs at a school in Athens EPA Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters cheer as head of the conservative New Democracy party Antonis Samara arrives at the Taekwondo Indoor Stadium in Athens to give a pre-election address Getty Images

Britain, which has maintained its border controls, would not be so directly affected. But the implication from the Greek defence minister is that allowing his country to go bust would impact the terror threat level for the entire continent.

Earlier on Monday, bailout talks chair and Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters at the fourth set of Brussels talks in a month that “we’ve talked about this long enough now”.

“We have spent now two weeks apparently discussing who meets whom where, in what configuration, and on what agenda and it is a complete waste of time,” he said.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis agreed to begin talks on the details of his country’s reform proposals on Wednesday, and rejected Dijsselbloem’s criticism.