The sources said Berlin was expecting long and intensive talks at Tuesday's conference of EU finance ministers.
On the reform drive, one said, "There are voices that are very optimistic that we could have something by March." However, Berlin does not share such optimism.
The European Commission has so far presented initial ideas on changing EU debt rules but no legislative proposals.
These have been met with caution in Berlin, where German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is pushing for uniform rules. The commission suggested tailoring the rules more closely to the needs of individual states.
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Writing by Rachel More)
