PES leaders meet ahead the Euro Summit in Albert Hall in Brussels. Arrivals, roundtable and statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President

Brussels

TIMMERMANS, Frans (NL, EC)

PITTELLA, Gianni (S&D, IT)

economic situation in Greece (T)

SCHULZ, Martin (S&D, DE)

meeting of the European Council

HOLLANDE, François (FR)

Euro Summit 12 July 2015 (T)

ASSELBORN, Jean (LU)

PES leaders meet ahead the Euro Summit: arrivals, roundtable and statement by Martin SCHULZ, EP President

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/17959628/I106770Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

Exterior view of the Albert Hall (2 shots)

Arrival of Frans TIMMERMANS, EC 1st Vice President

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pedro SANCHEZ , Leader of the Spanish PSOE, "There are Europeans in Greece suffering the consequences of the Greek government's errors, suffering of austerity, and Europe can&rsquo;t turn back on this. This is why the Spanish socialist party and the European socialists proposal is to arrive to a solution as soon as possible, from the part of the EU Institutions. The position for the Socialist party is clear, Greece must stay in the Eurozone."

SOUNDBITE (English), Diederik SAMSOM, PvdA, Netherlands, We don&rsquo;t know what the conditions of the backs are for the moment, we know they are in bad condition. It all depends on bridge financing and the way the capital controls could be relieved. It could take a few days or a few weeks I think. I think they are serious about their reform plan. They came with a sort of proposal last week, a proposal that they asked to be rejected the week before, so it&rsquo;s pretty difficult, but I think we can come out of this situation. Yes.

Arrival of  Gianni PITTELLA , ( S&amp;D, IT)

SOUNDBITE (English), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), Sch&auml;uble position is very irresponsible, and it can bring to the disaster. We want to avoid this outcome. This outcome can destroy not only Eurozone, but also the EU. The proposals for the Greek government are realistic, and for me, for my group there are good conditions to reach the deal.

Arrival of Jean ASSELBORN, Luxembourg Foreign Affairs Minister.

Arrival of Francois HOLLANDE  French President

Arrival of Sigmar GABRIEL, Vice-Chancellor of Germany. Soundbite: (about the Grexit), This idea is not on our negotiations table, what we want is to make everything possible to keep Greece in the Euro area.

Arrival of Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament

SOUNDBITE (German), Martin SCHULZ, EP President, "Germany consists of many, many people, many, many different politicians, I think Mr. Sch&auml;uble alone doesn't represent Germany. It's sure that finance ministers are making an effort to get to a sustainable compromise but the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal Government define their line in a coalition and I think their will is to come to an agreement, German-French unity would be clearly very important, but I think it will happen".

SOUNDBITE (German), Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, "That we have an unprecedented divide in Europe is clear. I can't see any division between France and Germany, I find it really exaggerate to say that. I have taken part in the last hours and days in almost all their talks and I have a very good personal relationship with both parts as has the EC President. So there's no division between France and Germany, on the contrary, there is an intensive exchange of views and I'm sure that in the essential they will come to an agrrement, which is necessary but not enough, because the problems are in Finland, Slovakia.. We shouldn't underestimate the role of the others".

SOUNDBITE (German), Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, "I still don't have an explanation to why some days ago the proposals that are now on the table weren't accepted, because they were mainly the same, the proposals of Jean-Claude Juncker presented with great force right before the end of the second programme, they were dispised as a national humiliation. In the middle there was a referendum. These are things that they have to confront to understand them. But this is the way it is, and my opinion is that Greece should do something and I think they are getting closer to its partners and the partners should accept these steps".

SOUNDBITE (German), Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, "Alexis Tsipras has announced that he will take new steps on Monday, which steps we will see. Much of what you ask me about depends on the result of the meeting tonight. It might be that the results lead to new measures being debated and voted in the Greek parliament tomorrow. But we don't know yet".

SOUNDBITE (English), Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, We are not close to a deal, I think they are just at the beginning of a very difficult and tough negotiations. Trust building is perhaps the most necessary step we have to take before we go to the details, and trust building is taking in account the events of the last four, five weeks. That&rsquo;s perhaps the most difficult precondition.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, (speaking about Sch&auml;uble's five years step out proposal) I think proposals which have no chance to be accepted should not be discussed. Now, what we need is not debate about things that are impossible, what we need is - possible solutions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, I think the Greek government may propose what they refused just recently, very near to what Juncker suggested in the 1st day before the expiration of the second programme. Now the Greek proposals are on the table. I think the Geeks cooperated strongly with the French government to put that proposal on the tale. I think this is already a trust building step. My feeling is that there will be an approach between the German and the French government, to find solutions, trust building. There is also a question about the implementation of those steps and how to describe for the coming years the capacity to repay the debt. This is a key element also in the debate between Germany and France. But there is not only Germany and France, there are 19 members, and looking to some of the parliaments, even the German &ndash; French agreement &ndash; which I think is possible &ndash; will not solve the problems alone.

SOUNDBITE (English), Martin SCHULZ, President of the European Parliament, (about the Greek banks reopening) If I would have that answer, all the stock exchanges would ask an interview with me.