Brussels, 06/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Speculation on a Greek exit from the eurozone ('Grexit') is a waste of time, Jyrki Katainen, vice-president of the European Commission, said on Tuesday 6 January at a conference hosted by the ALDE group at the European Parliament.
“Membership of the euro is irrevocable and the Commission is fully committed to the integrity of the euro area”, Katainen said. He also pointed out that the European citizens had come to Greece's rescue and that Greece had made commitments in return. “I'm sure Greek citizens want to stick to this commitment to the other European citizens”, Katainen said.
Following the warning, the day before, of a potential 'Grexit' in the event of a victory for the radical left-wing party Syriza in Greece, although the party has not made this an election pledge, the President of the ALDE group at the European Parliament, Belgium's Guy Verhofstadt, added another layer to this on Tuesday. He used figures to back up his argument, predicting that the cost of such a move would be €6 billion for Portugal, €29 billion for Spain, €44 billion for Italy, €49 billion for France and between €66 and €80 billion for Germany.
Verhofstadt also stressed that the euro area was not just an economic community, but also a community of values and that it would be counter-productive to tell the Greeks how to vote in the general elections to be held on Sunday 25 January.
The former President of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, went on EUROPE 1 to point out that Syriza “does not wish to leave the euro, because it is well aware that this would be completely dramatic for Greece (our translation). However, he referred to two “worrying elements” in Syriza's manifesto: wiping out part of the debt and putting an end to the budgetary cleansing policies. “The message this sends out to the other Europeans is not the right message at all”, Trichet concluded. (EL)