MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova – European Parliament Vice President Alexander Graf Lambsdorff said on Tuesday that Greece must leave the eurozone if it could not meet obligations to its international creditors.
"The government of Greece wants to stay in the eurozone, but [is] not willing to sacrifice its main promises to the Greek electorate. I think that is genuine — and reasonable," Kox said.
There has been broad media speculation regarding Greece’s potential exit from the eurozone in recent weeks. Top Greek officials, including Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, have spoken out against Athens leaving the single currency.
Greece is due to repay 300 million euro ($330 million) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday. Athens is obligated to make a total payment of 1.6 billion euros to the fund by June 19. In May, the Greek interior minister said that Athens did not have the money to make the June repayments to the IMF.
On May 23, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose main preelection campaign policy was reversing austerity, called on creditors to make concessions as the country was ready to accept a viable agreement but not on "humiliating" terms.
Kox told Sputnik that he viewed the prospect of an agreement between Greece and its lenders "quite positive."
"The nowadays Greek government is far more serious than its predecessors, which should be hold accountable for the actual crisis. The new government says: give us the chance to revitalize the economy, then we can earn money and pay our creditors," Kox said regarding the ruling Syriza party.
