During their first meeting after the summer break, the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament reacted positively to a proposal by Alexis Tsipras, pending from his time as Greek Prime Minister in August. In a letter to European Parliament's President, Martin Schulz, Mr. Tsipras proposed including the European Parliament in the control and review process of the measures implemented in Greece as a condition of the loan agreement.

Gabi Zimmer, President of the GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament, declares:

“My group fully supports Alexis Tsipras' call to give the European Parliament an important role in the implementation process of the loan agreement in Greece. In a 2014 report about the Troika operations, Parliament itself complained that the EU treaties had been violated and the European Parliament had not been involved.

“Other group leaders agreed with me that the permanent involvement of the Parliament is imperative in order to guarantee scrutiny and transparency. President Schulz was instructed to contact EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in order to develop a procedure. One of the possibilities discussed is a so-called Inter-institutional Agreement between the Parliament and Commission.

“My opinion is that the involvement of different Parliamentary committees like the committees for economic affairs, for social affairs and for regional policy in the EU is necessary. It is one of the most important tasks of the European Parliament to push for democracy, compliance with the Treaties' social obligations and especially the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.”

GUE/NGL Press Contact:

Gay Kavanagh +32 473 84 23 20