Meeting of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs with Euclid TSAKALOTOS, Greek Minister of&nbsp;Finance, on the Economic Dialogue in the EP in Brussels. Satements by Euclid TSAKALOTOS, Greek Minister of Finance

Brussels

exchange of views

EU - Greece (T)

meeting

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

economic situation in Greece (T)

economic dialogue (T)

TSAKALOTOS, Euclid (EL)

Economic Dialogue and exchange of views with Euclid TSAKALOTOS, Greek Minister of Finance: extracts of the meeting of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Arrival of Euclid TSAKALOTOS, Finance Minister of Greece, at the ECON committee, Brussels, Belgium, (1 shot)

<p>SOUNDBITE (English), Euclid TSAKALOTOS,Greek Minister of Finance: We are not asking for the goals of the programme to be changed because of the refugee crisis, we made that firmly clear. What we have said is that if we don't reach the goal exposed because there was greater expenditure to do with the refugee crisis that should be taken into account, which I think is a very different approach and you can easily imagine that happening as this crisis happens. Obviously the Greek government and I think the Greek people have shown what we consider to be not Greek values but European values in supporting the refugees and their right to asylum. We have taken that decision and I think we had great support throughout Greece and there is a great pride in that. My one hope is that this solidarity will spread not only to how other countries will deal with the refugee crisis but also how they deal with other issues. And my one fear is that some countries do not realise how dangerous for the whole European project this is, if we underline that in these important issues we going to find national solutions to national problems, because if that is the road we go down then be sure that a national problem of your country which others turn then round and say it has nothing to do with us. So at the moment we are in a sort of limbo, the crisis is growing, you know we have done our best in hot spots and we are doing new areas where we can have the refugees as guests, a lot of the time they are desperate to move on, you provide them housing and tents some times and facilities, they are desperate to go North and it is not an easy situation.</p>

<p>SOUNDBITE (English), Euclid TSAKALOTOS, Greek Minister of Finance: I think it to be fair that the Commission is responding, sometimes we have a bit of a qualm that we get the money afterwards when we spend it and in a liquidity starved economy that is not very easy to do, it is not that we got source of liquidity lying idle that we could use for that so that is an added pressure. If we go down the bad route then things will be intolerable in Greece, if borders are permanently closed, if we don't reach a European solution then the issues will be very difficult for Greece, also because social spending on Humanitarian spending on Greek people is so low in so many fields and you can imagine how that feeds into the right wing, ultra-right wing politics, xenophobic politics, if those kind of parties are able to say 'look they are treating and feeding the immigrants and not our own people', so there are a lot of dangers but I think there is also a great deal of potential, if the Europeans can re-find that 'solidaristic'approach that was the whole point of the founding fathers of the EU.</p>