Brussels, 29/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Following a meeting with the new Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, in Athens on Thursday 29 January, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said that he was confident that Greece would not take any unilateral actions.
“There's a sense in the EU that the new Greek government will follow its own course”, said Schulz, who firmly believes that “that's not the case”. He welcomed the new plan of the Tsipras government to fight tax evasion. Following his meeting with Schulz, the new Greek government will meet the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and Thomas Wieser, who heads up the discussions within the Council's working group on the euro, this Friday. On Saturday, the finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, will meet his British counterpart, followed on Monday by his French opposite number and the Italian Minister on Tuesday. The Commission, on the other hand, has not yet received any proposed date for the Greek authorities to visit Brussels. However, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, told the newspaper Le Figaro that he was to meet Tsipras in Brussels “next week”.
There is “no question of writing off the (Greek) debt; the other countries of the eurozone will not accept that”, warned Juncker, who went on to say that “arrangements are possible, but they will not fundamentally change what is in place”. He then stressed that Alex Tsipras “feels that Greece no longer accepts austerity, the countries of the euro reply that there will be no more credit if Greece goes back on its commitments”. (EL)