“First of all, Greece won't go down. We're talking about a country that is capable of making change. Europe will not allow the destabilization of the 27-country euro zone. But if there were no action, then markets would start becoming jittery about other countries - and not only Spain and Portugal, but other countries in the European Union.” IfsFirstsCountryActionTalkingBecomingCapableEuropeUnionsZoneOther CountriesSpainGreeceMaking ChangesEuropean UnionEuroPortugal Author:George Papandreou
“Greece has given Europe the opportunity to fix a defect in the euro zone, that is the fact that we did not have a fiscal union. Now steps have been taken to begin that process. And there is more solidarity from nation to nation, and that is a good thing. That has been Greece's gift to Europe.” Has BeensFactsOpportunityGivenNationsProcessStepsTakenEuropeGood ThingsUnionsZoneSolidarityDefectsGreeceEuro Author:George Papandreou
“Greece is a medium-sized country in Europe. Our debt accounts for only 2.5 percent of the total of all members of the euro zone.” CountryMembersPercentEuropeAccountsDebtMediumsZoneGreeceEuro Author:Evangelos Venizelos
“Europe and the euro zone have no reason, rationally, to push Greece out of the euro. But this is a system in which many parties, many countries, many governments, many electorates participate and we could have events which, rationally, are not controllable.” CountryReasonGovernmentPartyEventsEuropeZoneNo ReasonGreeceEuroElectorate Author:Evangelos Venizelos
“We should be therefore supporting a larger Europe, and in so doing we should strive to expand the zone of peace and prosperity in the world which is the necessary foundation for a stable international system in which our leadership could be fruitfully exercised.” WorldShouldEuropeFoundationStriveInternationalProsperityZoneStable Author:Zbigniew Brzezinski
“We have suicide bombers blowing up buses in Israel and very real anti-Semitism on the march in Europe, but the TV networks located the worldwide danger zone for Jews as the space between Mel Gibson's ears.” RealSpaceDangerTvsEuropeEarsSuicideJewIsraelZoneMarchBusAnti SemitismSpace BetweenBombersBlowing UpSuicide Bombers Author:L. Brent Bozell III
“I would describe that [friendship with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras] as a utilitarian friendship. At the time, his country was facing the prospect of leaving the euro zone and many Greeks felt abandoned by Europe. In such a situation, it seemed appropriate to me to present myself as a friend to Greece. It had to do with the country's dignity.” CountryFeltSituationEuropeDignityLeavingMinistersGreekAppropriateZonePrimeAbandonedPrime MinisterGreeceEuroUtilitarianAlexis Author:Jean-Claude Juncker
“It is very difficult to enter a single currency zone having fairly weak economic parameters and maintain a favourable state of the economy, not to mention positive growth rates. We have witnessed it not only in Europe, but for example in Argentina (nearly 10 years ago or more), when they tied the national currency to the dollar and later they did not know what to do about it.” KnowsYearsStatesDifficultGrowthEconomyEconomicExampleEuropeYears AgoWeakDollarsRateZoneTiedCurrencyArgentinaParameters Author:Vladimir Putin
“There is a proposal to divide the currency zone into a north and a south euro. There is also the idea of setting up a core monetary union in the middle of Europe. I disapprove of these debates. Instead, we should devote all of our efforts to supplementing the monetary union with a political union.” ShouldIdeasPoliticalEffortMiddleEuropeUnionsSouthDebateCoreSettingSettingsZoneDividesCurrencyProposalMonetaryEuro Author:Jean-Claude Juncker
“I think sometimes Europe may take for granted the extraordinary progress that's been made over the last 40, 50 years. I recognize that sometimes there is great frustration that arises out of the euro zone or out of the EU.” ThinkingYearsMayMadeSometimesLastsProgressEuropeExtraordinaryAriseGrantedFrustrationZoneEuro Author:Barack Obama