EPP leaders: Europe is ready to help the people of Greece; Prime Minister Tsipras should not be an obstacle in this process
Today the European People's Party (EPP) held a Summit in Brussels in preparation of the informal European Council meeting. During this meeting, EU heads of state and government underlined their readiness to find a solution to Greece's economic challenges and expressed the hope that Prime Minister Tsipras will not jeopardise the progress achieved under the governance of former Prime Minister and leader of ND, Antonis Samaras."We call on the new government of Greece not to jeopardise the economic progress achieved during the leadership of Antonis Samaras. The sacrifices made by the people of Greece cannot be put at risk through unilateral behaviour. Prime Minister Tsipras has to respect all commitments made by the previous Greek government. Europe is ready to help the people of Greece overcome their economic problems; we call on Prime Minister Tsipras not to be an obstacle in helping the people of Greece", explained EPP President Joseph Daul after the EPP summit.
EPP heads of state and government and leaders of the opposition participating in the Summit unanimously paid tribute to the progress achieved during Antonis Samaras's leadership.
"The country is back to growth and unemployment is declining. In Greece, like in Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus, EPP-led governments took the right economic decisions to regain investors' confidence. Admittedly, in Greece it was harder and it took longer, but Antonis Samaras put the country on its way towards stability and regaining confidence. Now it is up to Prime Minister Tsipras to work together with Greece's partners to reach an agreement shortly, in order to avoid an escalation of the situation, which would hit the people of Greece", EPP President Daul continued.
EPP leaders present at the Summit also expressed solidarity with the people of Ukraine, declared their full confidence in President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, and welcomed the efforts lead by Chancellor Angela Merkel and President François Hollande.
"The weapons on Ukrainian soil must be laid down. EPP leaders expressed the hope that the Minsk agreement will be respected and will lead to an improvement of the situation on the ground. We have full trust that President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk will do all that is in their power to deescalate the situation. We expect the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to also respect every single commitment that he made in Minsk. The EPP will stand by the Ukrainian government in speeding up the reforms needed to return Ukraine to stability and economic performance", concluded President Daul.
Photos of the EPP Summit can be viewed on the EPP Flickr account.