The broadening euro zone recovery means the need for economic or monetary stimulus is fading, European Central Bank policymaker Juergen Stark said on Wednesday, adding there needs to be a realization that a euro zone bail out is forbidden.

Stark, who oversees the ECB's influential economics division, said recent strong economic growth, in particular in Germany, had underlined the health of the 17-country euro zone's recovery.

The economic recovery in the euro area has been sustained and has become more broadly based, Stark said at a conference organized by the Greek government and the Economist.

The economy no longer needs the degree of economic or monetary stimulus as adopted during the height of the crisis in late 2008 and early 2009.

Germany, Europe's largest economy, grew by a startling 1.5 percent in the first three months of the year, data showed on Friday, with France also growing by a robust 1.0 percent.

Having effectively closed the door to a June interest rate hike this month, the ECB is now expected to raise them to 1.5 percent in July.

Rising energy prices drove euro zone headline inflation to 2.8 percent in April, data this week showed, with core inflation jumping to a 2-1/4 year high as well.

Stark also stressed the need for Greece and other debt strained countries to step up their fiscal repair efforts.

For some countries returning to sustainable fiscal positions requires significant further fiscal consolidation efforts, he said, adding that competiveness also needed to be restored.

Stark, one of the ECB's six-member Executive Board, called for politicians to beef up new fiscal rules currently being worked on, urging them to install semi-automatic financial penalties for those who step out of line.

He also said the fear of financial markets turning against a budget sinner should be utilized.

The ECB considers it fundamental to set up an effective surveillance mechanism in the euro area, Stark said.

It is equally important that markets can play their disciplinary role in an efficient manner. This requires transparency in the surveillance process and the realization of markets that the no bail out clause does indeed constitute one of the binding constraints of European Monetary Union.

(Reporting by Harry Papachristou, writing by Marc Jones)

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