FRANKFURT (MNI) - Fears of inflation in the Eurozone are unfounded, European Central Bank Executive Board member Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell said Thursday.

In an interview given to Austrian business weekly Format, Tumpel-Gugerell expressed the view that Greece's fiscal consolidation measures are comprehensive. Still, they must be credibly implemented by the fiscally-troubled southern Mediterranean state, she said.

She called for stricter fiscal discipline in the future to prevent countries from having to engage in extreme corrective measures down the road.

She argued that inflation fears sparked by high debt levels and low economic growth are "indeed unjustified."

Tumpel-Gugerell added: "The ECB's mandate is clear and calls for the maintenance of price stability in the Eurozone. That is what the ECB has done over the past 10 years... and [it] will continue to do so."

The ECB Board member rejected a recent call for allowing higher inflation rates in order to ease mounting debt loads. Any "uncertainty" about whether the budgetary rules of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact would be honored is now gone, and consolidation measures are being pursued, she said.

"Nevertheless, we see that a country that waits long [to consolidate] must correct more than others. Here one must demand even stricter discipline in fiscal policy," she urged.

"Greece has introduced the necessary correction of its budget course with a comprehensive consolidation program. Credibility in implementation is now needed," Tumpel-Gugerell said. "The European partners have signaled clearly that they have the utmost interest in [Greece] sticking to its words."

"The euro is not a one-way street," she declared.