Statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President, following the victory&nbsp;of the left party Syriza as a result of the legislative election in Greece

Brussels

EU - Greece (T)

statement

SCHULZ, Martin (S&D, DE)

Results of the Greek legislative election: statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President

SOUNDBITE (English) EP President Martin SCHULZ:  <p>"As President of the EP I want to express my congratulations to Alexis TSIPRAS as the new Prime Minister of Greece; it is an enormous and historical victory for his party. Yesterday I congratulated Prime Minister Tsipras in a personal phone call, and announced that the position here in the EP is absolutely clear: he is the democratic elected new Prime Minister of a member country of the EU, with the full right to be in that regard respected by the European institutions, welcomed by the EU institutions as a representative of the government of Greece. It is absolutely clear that this is a major change in the country and has an impact on Europe; Prime Minister Tsipras announced during the electoral campaign that he wants to discuss with the EU about new measures in the frame of the programme, that he wants to discuss about the program of the Troika, that he wants to discuss the so-called 'memorandum'... all these things are known and we are looking forward to discuss with him, quite clear for the EP, we are open for all discussions, but it is also absolutely clear that we have to agree on the basis of mutual respect, trust and that we have to stick to agreements made to stabilise the country and to stabilise the EU. I am looking forward to work closely with Prime Minister Tsipras, we agreed yesterday to stay in touch and perhaps I will meet him already during this week.</p>  <p>I add also my thanks and my gratitude to leaving Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who is a former member of the EP and who led the government during the last years in very dramatic times and I want to honour also the contribution of this convinced pro-European, who had always a very close contact to the EP, when during the Greek Presidency he led the European Council in a very respectful way".</p>