EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker explained his views of last July’s referendum in Greece on whether to accept or reject an offer tabled at the time by creditors, in relation to Thursday’s referendum in Britain over continued EU membership.
“Exactly the opposite of what (Greek PM Alexis) Tsipras promised occurred,” Juncker was quoted as saying this week by the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
When reminded of his warning to Greek voters over the consequences of a “No” vote in the July 5 referendum, and the subsequent landslide against accepting creditors’ terms, Juncker replied:
“For me it was significant to tell the Greek people that with this referendum their country’s position in the euro was at risk, but in the end the referendum dealt less with the role of Greece in the EU and more with the role of Mr. Tsipras in Greece. He (Tsipras) wanted a new mandate and he received one. And very shortly (thereafter) he agreed, through negotiations, to a path that was not in absolute accord with what he supported in the campaign for the referendum. That was not my concern, but Mr. Tsipras’,” he adds.
Asked by a journalist for the paper if the Greek “No” caused him to steer clear of expressing his views to British voters this year, Juncker simply stated that “in Greece the exact opposite of what Tsipras promised during the referendum occurred …”
