Greece: PM Tsipras should respect Europe's basic values

In his address at today’s plenary, Manfred Weber MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, reminded Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of the principles and fundamental values of European culture: confidence, dignity, solidarity and democracy.

Confidence: "The unleashing of words over the past few days was quite disturbing. You called us terrorists. Up until now, you have not made any proposals. You are losing the confidence of the rest of Europe", Manfred Weber told the Greek Prime Minister.

Dignity: "You talk about dignified politics, but you are not telling your own people the truth. And look at who your friends are: the far-left and far-right, MEPs, the extremists in this House, are applauding you. You are surrounding yourself with the wrong friends", he said.

Solidarity: "You are telling your people that it is the Institutions that will pay for Greece but it is actually ordinary people in other EU countries, in Portugal, in Spain, in Poland who will pay. In at least 5 Eurozone countries, the minimum wage is lower than in Greece. You must also think about those people!"

Democracy: "Europe is not a sum of nationalist views. Europe is about compromise. As responsible political representatives we engage in compromise. We do hope you will be able to come up with a programme shortly."

"The EPP Group stands at the side of the Greek people. We want a good solution to be found for Greece and for Europe as a whole", Weber concluded.