Last week's summit of EU leaders in Brussels brought the "right answers" to the problems facing the eurozone, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has told a German newspaper.

In an interview to be published on Sunday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Schaeuble said: "The Brussels summit brought the right answers to the problems facing" eurozone members.

EU leaders had established "a clear plan for growth" in 2013, he said.

Germany's long-held principle of pooling debt that would be controlled by a separate body was "backed with insistence and without exception" he added.

"The markets seem to accept that there is no sense in speculating in vain against the eurozone, which is a bloc."

Germany ratified a pact agreed by EU leaders at last week's summit that allows a permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), to be tapped to recapitalise banks without having to go through governments.

The 500-billion-euro ($623 billion) ESM could not be established without Germany's backing as it needed ratification by countries making up 90 percent of its capital to take effect.