GUE/NGL criticises EP President's stance on Greece

Statement by GUE/NGL President Gabi Zimmer and EP Vice-President Dimitrios Papadimoulis

Martin Schulz is interfering in an unacceptable and one-sided manner in the Greek referendum. He openly opposes  the democratically elected government of Greece and thus misuses his role as President of the European Parliament. He clearly supports the creditors who wish to continue the failed austerity diktat, even though it has pushed Greece into a humanitarian crisis and a severe recession. Schulz ignores the democratic will of the Greek population.

We criticise the manipulative statements by President Schulz in today's edition of Handelsblatt. He expresses his hope for new elections if the Greeks vote yes in the referendum. A technocratic interim government will have to find an agreement with the creditors as Syriza´s time would be up and Greece would have “a chance again.” He wants to see the democratically elected government overthrown, so that the creditors get a government that suits them. These remarks illustrate how Martin Schulz as president of the only democratically elected EU institution sees democracy.

Using false claims, Schulz is trying to scare the Greeks voters that they would be leaving the eurozone and to discredit the Greek government. He alleged that the Greeks would decide in the referendum about staying in the euro zone. This is just not correct. The Tsipras government has never questioned Greece´s eurozone membership. As a representative of a European institution Martin Schulz should stop talking about a possible “Grexit” as there is no legal way to push Greece out of the Euro.

Martin Schulz said publicly that the final proposal made by the creditors did not include pension cuts. That is not true as can be seen in the creditors' documents. Alexis Tsipras could not agree with these proposals without violating his democratic mandate. Instead, the creditors deliberately worked towards the possible failure of the only left-wing government in the EU. They want to ensure that no voter in the EU will vote for parties which propose alternative policies to the dominating neoliberal and austerity doctrine.

 

GUE/NGL Press Contact:

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20