Socialists-Democrats' Gianni Pitella says 'there is no Europe without Greece'

Gazzetta team
Socialists-Democrats' Gianni Pitella says 'there is no Europe without Greece'
Coming out strongly in support of Greece's positions during a debate held in the European Parliament on Wednesday, the head of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Gianni Pittella stressed that for Europe's socialists "there is no Europe without Greece," and that they "will never accept a Grexit".

The speech delivered by the head of the EuroParliament's second-largest bloc was the virtual opposite of that by the Christian-Democrats leader Martin Weber, who represented the largest bloc in the European Parliament.

"Greece is an integral part of Europe and the eurozone," Pittella said. "Without Greece in the eurozone, Europe will not be the same and for this reason we will continue to oppose the extremists and the political opportunists that are playing with the future of Greece and Europe."

He stressed that the situation was critical and underlined the need to "not divide the institutional organs of the Union but unite them, because... the future of Europe is at stake, within which is Greece."

Addressing European Council President Donald Tusk, he formally requested that the European Parliament also participate in the Council sessions, asking him to invite European Parliament President Martin Schulz.