Eurozone summit/Greece

Commenting on today's Eurozone summit on Greece, Greens/EFA co-presidents Rebecca Harms and Philippe Lamberts stated:

"The document summarising the outcome of the Eurogroup has now been made public. It basically accepts the Greek proposals and adds a substantial number of demands by the creditors, in the pure vein of Troika tradition. The Greek government extended a hand and under the pressure of the harshest finance ministers, led by Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble, the Eurogroup tries to twist their arm.

By imposing utterly unrealistic delays for adopting fundamental reforms and subjecting Greek democracy to external control, the Eurogroup is demonstrating disrespect for the citizens of a country. We all know that a necessary reform process must be based on the citizens and their will for change. To declare mistrust, as Schaeuble is doing, undermines the whole idea of the change that has been accepted by a majority of the Greek government and parliament.

One can only conclude that the will of the Eurogroup is either to humiliate the Greek government or encourage it to pull the plug, so that it bears prima facie responsibility for Grexit. This is against the interest of Greek and EU citizens.

We call on the Heads of State and Government to show leadership and forge a compromise that upholds the EU's fundamental values and is economically viable and socially just. The outcome of the current discussions will have a major impact on the future of the European project.