london (Bloomberg) — The bankruptcy of a euro-region country would spell the end of European monetary union, said Carl Heinz Daube, the head of Germany's debt agency.

"If one member were to go bankrupt this would mean, after 10 years, the euro experiment is at its end," Daube said in a speech at a London conference organised by Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc. It would lead to "a collapse of the whole system", he said.

The euro weakened to a one-year low against the yen yesterday. Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's said they may cut Greece's debt rating as the nation struggles to manage the largest budget deficit in the European Union. European finance ministers signalled on February 16 they may provide Greece with support if it takes what EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn called "determined action" to reduce its debt.

"These kinds of comments from an informed guy could be a call to action," said Richard Franulovich, a senior currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in New York. "It sends a message to politicians to get together, work out a deal here that forces Greece to cut spending, raise taxes. And in return they get some kind of assistance." Germany's bond yields haven't been affected by the Greek debt crisis, Daube said at the conference.