BERLIN—Germany signaled Saturday it wouldn't support extending Greece's bailout while the country holds a referendum as long as the Athens government urged its people to vote no to creditors' terms, increasing the likelihood of financial turmoil in Greece next week and of a Greek exit from the eurozone.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said in Brussels that negotiations with Greece were over and that the country's current bailout would expire Tuesday—several days before the planned referendum.
"We are in a position where the program ends on Tuesday because there are no more discussions," Mr. Schäuble said heading into an emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
A person close to the German government said Chancellor Angela Merkel wouldn't recommend the German parliament extend the Greek bailout to bridge the gap until the July 5 referendum as long as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was advocating voting against implementing creditors' terms. Any extension of Greece's current bailout from Europe beyond Tuesday would need parliamentary approval in Germany and some other eurozone countries.
Several leaders of Ms. Merkel's junior governing partner, the Social Democrats, echoed that view, stating in interviews Saturday that a Greek referendum on the bailout would only make sense if Mr. Tsipras put to a vote an agreement that he supported.
Senior Greek government members have said the government will call on voters to reject creditors' bailout terms—a stance that would make it very hard for Europe to keep its proposed bailout package on the table, or to grant Greece an extension of the bailout program beyond its June 30 expiration date. If the eurozone declares its proposed terms null and void once the bailout lapses on Tuesday, Greeks could find themselves answering an academic question in the voting booth.
Germany's stance, which was echoed by several other European Union governments Saturday, now means Greece is unlikely to get that extension. Without the extension, the European Central Bank is less likely to continue providing Greece with the emergency liquidity assistance its banks need to stay open.
On Saturday morning, Ms. Merkel's vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, offered cautious support for a Greek referendum. But he added that the vote would only make sense if Athens negotiated a bailout program with its international creditors that the Greek government stood behind.
"I think we would be well advised not to reject Mr. Tsipras's proposal as a trick," Mr. Gabriel said on German public radio Deutschlandfunk. A referendum, he added, "can make sense if the questions are clear, if it's clear that a negotiated program is being voted upon."
Mr. Gabriel, who is also economics minister and heads the Social Democrats, said it would be "an absurd situation" if Mr. Tsipras didn't voice support for the bailout program he put up for a vote.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, another Social Democrat, made a similar point in an interview released Saturday by newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
"There is now a good offer on the table—I hope that Greece takes the hand reached out to it," Mr. Steinmeier said. "If this will happen in the form of a referendum, then so be it; but for this case we expect the prime minister positions himself clearly in favor of the compromise in his government and the Greek public."
Germany is the largest creditor in Greece's bailout programs. Ms. Merkel, widely seen as the most influential figure in the negotiations with Greece, stayed silent on the referendum matter Saturday morning.
Mr. Tsipras disclosed his plans for a referendum to her and French President François Hollande in a phone call Friday evening, Greek and other European officials said.
But Ms. Merkel's conservative allies in parliament were quick to voice fresh anger at a Greek government they have been castigating for months as irresponsible.
"Mr. Tsipras is suffering from a total loss of reality because it is far too late for a referendum," said Gunther Krichbaum, a lawmaker in Ms. Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and head of the lower house of parliament's European Union Affairs Committee.
Mr. Krichbaum warned parliament had "no basis whatsoever" to extend Greece's bailout. Another longtime hard-liner on Greece in the CDU, Wolfgang Bosbach, called Saturday for the ECB to halt its emergency funding of Greek banks.
"It is truly a remarkable development that a head of government doesn't live up to his own political responsibility and instead makes the Greek population deal with the consequences of a decision," Mr. Bosbach said.
—Ulrike Dauer in Frankfurt contributed to this article.
Write to Anton Troianovski at anton.troianovski@wsj.com and Andrea Thomas at andrea.thomas@wsj.com
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