EU Parliament to Greek Public: We'll Help You, But Not Your Government

In an interview with the German TV channel ZDF, European Parliament President Martin Schulz signaled Europe's willingness to help the people of Greece; he, however, said that Europe will not help the Greek government.

"We are ready to help the Greek people, but we are by no means willing to help the Greek government," Schultz said, commenting on a decision by Athens to hold a national referendum on Sunday.

According to him, the Greek authorities have showed themselves as incapable of sticking to the agreements reached with international lenders.

Referring to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Schultz described his behavior as "dangerous and irresponsible".

Earlier, Tsipras announced a nationwide referendum on whether his country should accept its creditors' demands for spending cuts and tax increases.

On June 30, Greece failed to meet the payment deadline to the International Monetary Fund, which was the first such failure by a developed country.Earlier, negotiations between Greece and its creditors on a modified reform program in exchange for additional funding from the European Union also failed to yield a result.

If the Greek government and its international creditors fail to agree on an extension of the bailout program, the country will default on its debt. 

After Tsipras announced the July 5 referendum, Greek citizens queued up to withdraw money from their bank deposits.

This prompted the Greek government to declare a week long closure for bank banks, the imposition of capital controls and the banning of international online payments.