International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde warned Greek leadership against expecting an automatic debt write-off after the upcoming Jan. 25 elections in Greece.

Speaking to the Irish Times newspaper ahead of an official visit to Dublin on Monday, Lagarde was quoted as saying that “… as a principle, collective endeavours are welcome but at the same time a debt is a debt and it is a contract.”

“Defaulting, restructuring, changing the terms has consequences on the signature and the confidence in the signature.”

Her statement comes as the main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party’s lead in opinion polls remains ahead of Sunday ballot.

SYRIZA has long promised to overturn austerity measures and call for an international conference to renegotiate Greece’s external debt deal with other euro area states. SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has already suggested that a conference be modelled according to the 1953 meeting that took place in London where western powers agreed to slash West German debts by half after WWII. He motioned in December that he wanted a similar “moment of solidarity” with Greece.

Quoted in France’s Le Figaro, European Commission (EC) President Jean-Claude Juncker echoed Lagarde’s views.

“The government elected by Greece should respect its commitments and continue on the path of reforms and fiscal responsibility,” he said. “Europe will support Greece but Europe expects Greece to respect commitments made to its partners.”

Meanwhile, in a FT dispatch from Tokyo, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin is quoted as calling on eurozone members to respect the outcome of Sunday’s election in Greece, emphasizing that the Union should be ready to negotiate with the country’s new leadership on restructuring its huge debt or even refinancing bailout terms.

Whatever the result of the election will be, it is absolutely fair and legitimate that discussions should take place between the EU and the new Greek government,” he said.

In an article entitled “Grexit danger doesn’t exist, no one can throw us out of the euro zone,” stresses that “PASOK has the same position as it did in the 2012 elections, when it appeared that no party could form a government by itself. We said, at the time, and we’re repeating it today, that due to the difficult situation for the country, we’re in need of a national unity government, with the all the democratic forces (within) … which believe in democratic rule of law – excluding the neo-Nazi Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn) – and in the European prospects of Greece, as a member of the European Union and the euro zone.”

Meanwhile, in a feature published in the New York Times on Saturday, entitled “A Grass-Roots Pitch in Greece Could Pay Off”, an bylined by Susan Daley, Alexis. Tsipras appears confident that Athens’ euro zone partners, especially Germany, to ease terms.

“Let’s assume I owe you a million dollars … You know you have two options: a) to give me the chance to have some income so I can pay you back, even 50 percent of it, or, b) let me lose everything, go bankrupt, and you get nothing back. What would you choose?”

The NYTimes correspondent writes that “… At a time when Italy and France, among other countries, are also questioning the German-led austerity orthodoxy, Mr. Tsipras could play a vital role in shaping the European debate. He is being watched carefully across Europe for signs of whether he really has moderated, or is just toning down his language to avoid scaring middle-of-the-road voters.

Finally, in an interview with Italy’s La Stampa, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos defended his party for bearing the burden, as he said, pushing through austerity measures. He also criticized SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras while at the same time extending a possible offer of post-election cooperation.

“Tsipras is like Harry Potter, but if need be we’ll cooperate with him.”