Debate during the plenary session of July in Strasbourg on the Review of the Latvian Presidency. Statements by Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC on the situation in Greece and by Laimdota STRAUJUMA, Prime Minister of Latvia.

debate

plenary session

JUNCKER, Jean-Claude (LU)

economic situation in Greece (T)

Latvian Presidency of the EU (T)

STRAUJUMA, Laimdota (LV)

Review of the Latvian Presidency: extracts from the Council and Commission statements

SOUNDBITE (Latvian), Laimdota STRAUJUMA, Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU, "On the very last days of the Latvian Presidency we achieved an agreement on the single telecom market proposal, and that allows the cancellation of roaming fees, and insures open internet acess. This is a very crucial achievement for the Presidency and that will provide benefit for all citizens. This agreement allows an essential reduction of roaming fees starting already from the 30 April 2016."

SOUNDBITE (Latvian), Laimdota STRAUJUMA, Presidency of the Council of the EU, "The Council has achieved progress to fight against the loose of lifes in the Mediterranean, to fight against the smuggling networks and to strenghten cooperation with the origin and transit countries. So that we could also help those EU Member States that have the most pressure form the migration."

SOUNDBITE (German), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC , "I continue to believe, and I should always believe that a Grexit should be avoided, I am against Grexit.&rdquo; Applause

SOUNDBITE (German), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, "Simplistic answers are the wrong answers. I'm against simplistic solutions. In fact in EU there are no simple answers, Europe is all about compromise, and compromise takes a whole to achieve, and that's the job of the European Commission, and it's the job that I will continue to do. The Greek nation is a great nation, and throwing Greece out the Monetary Union or of the EU, is not something that we want or we should want. The European Commission will continue to work towards a reopening of the negotiations with Greece. What kind of the EU would it be if we stop talking to each other? What would happen if EU nations stop talking to each other? That would fly on the face of the values of the EU."

SOUNDBITE (German), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, "The Greek delegation walk out the negotiations.. That is wrong. That is a serious error; you do not walk out of negotiations while they are not completed. Now it is time to get around the table again, that is the obvious cost to follow and we have to find a solution. That solution is not going to appear overnight."

SOUNDBITE (German), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, "I think it is unacceptable for the European Commission to be deemed terrorist by the Greek government. That is not the kind of Europe we want."

SOUNDBITE (German), Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the EC, "With all respect for the vote of the Greek people, we want to understand what is that the Greek people have said. I'm told it's not a "no" to Europe, it's not a "no" to the Euro, it's certainly not a "no" to the document, because it's not on the table anymore. So quite clearly the ball is on the corner of the Greek government, and the Greek government must explain in Brussels today how they see us extricating ourselves from this situation."