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Anastasia Balezdrova

"If Greece refuses to meet its obligations it will inevitably end up outside the euro area," said firmly the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz in his speech to the citizens and media representatives in Athens. "All who say that they do not accept the Memorandum but that Greece can still remain in the European structures cherish false hopes."

The German Social Democrat said he was concerned about the fact that Greek political leaders failed to agree to form a coalition government. "Those who are saying the country must stop paying its obligations are not saying that it would not be able to borrow either from banks or from other countries and that this will be only the beginning of the horror for the Greek people. They are promising to relieve the people, but actually, they are taking the country to a full collapse."

Martin Schulz stressed that in some member states of the eurozone, such as Estonia and Slovakia, wages are much lower than in Greece, but the two countries participate in the bailouts. "The supervisory Troika is not planning to turn Greece into someone's colony, but is applying a rescue programme."

He urged Greece to take advantage of the change in the focus of the European policy and to take measures for development in order to start improving the economy. "But the measures for budget cuts and structural reforms must be carried out. If you abandon the attempt now, the two years of effort and deprivation will be completely lost."

Martin Schulz expressed Europe's desire for Greece to remain in the eurozone, but ruled out the possibility of renegotiating the Memorandum and the bailout agreement to the country. "Theoretically speaking, it takes time for something like this to happen. Lack of development in Greece during this period is not possible," he said.

In response to a citizen's question whether it is planned to issue Eurobonds , he said that the discussion about them is more ideological than realistic. "Moreover, what is the European mechanism supporting the countries affected by the debt crisis if not a Eurobond?"

The president of the European Parliament, however, agreed with the opinion that it was urgent to establish European credit rating agencies, because "it is not possible the fate of the peoples of Europe to depend on U.S. agencies. We are not aware of either according to whom, or on the basis of what criteria these assessments are made," he said.

At the end, Martin Schulz said that Europe has to create a political union that supports the single currency.

Earlier, he met with President Carlos Papoulias and the leaders of the Greek parties. Without commenting on each separately, he said he had met with people who are fully aware of the consequences of any rejection of the Memorandum of economic aid to Greece. "No European country will approve the next tranche of the bailout worth 130 billion euro if the next Greek government does not comply with the obligations undertaken by the previous one. Europe relies on the principle that agreements must be respected," he said, leaving no doubt about the meaning of his message.