New Europe — “I fought hard for Greece to remain in the eurozone and we succeeded. Eurozone would not be complete without Greece,” stressed the President of the European Commission Jean – Claude Juncker at Euronews interview, that was aired on Monday night.
President Juncker is in Athens taking part in an informal working lunch hosted by EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos. “You are a friend of Greece & Greece is your friend,” said Avramopoulos while welcoming Juncker at Kavouri, a coastal region near Athens. Former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras also took part in the working lunch.
According to EU sources, the informal working lunch had many people present and Juncker, Avramopoulos and Samaras discussed how Greece , though joint efforts, exactly a year ago, was kept “firmly anchored in the eurozone” and the challenges that Europe and Greece are facing such as tackling the refugee crisis and the upcoming referendum in the UK.
On Tuesday, Juncker will meet Prokopis Pavlopoulos, President of Greece, and Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece. Juncker is also expected to address the Greek Economic and Social Committee and delivers the keynote speech at the Annual General Meeting of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), in Athensas he will be the keynote speaker.
“The President has been very much involved in addressing the crisis in Greece,” added Alexander Witnerstein, deputy spokesperson of the EU Commission. On his meetings, he is expected to “acknowledge the efforts made by the Greek people and by the government to address the crisis, by now implement what has been agreed.”
