Group Vice-President of European Conservatives and Reformists Group Ryszard Legutko responded to this morning’s debate with Alexis Tsipras.

In this morning’s debate with Alexis Tsipras, European Conservatives and Reformists Group Vice-President Ryszard Legutko today said:

“Something is rotten in the state of Greece, but something is rotten in the EU too. In the beginning there was the original sin of the currency union and today we are reaping its fruits.

“I have an impression of a pièce de théâtre that has been unfolding before our eyes. Nothing really is what it seems. The Greeks want help and at the same time they want to have a free hand apparently not knowing the old saying that “he who pays the piper gets to call the tune”. They organise a referendum which was and at the same time was not about what it was reported to be about. In Greece-EU relations we have witnessed a number of final rounds of talks and we know that the word ‘final’ does not mean final. It means something else. We heard the currency unionists speak about Greece but what they have in mind is the monetary union and they want to help the monetary union and seeing it as the crucial debate. They say that once Greece is out the entire construction, said to be so magnificently stable and firm, will fall into pieces. Either one or the other.

“So if this pièce de théâtre continues I think we will be more and more confused about who and what we are trying to save. Are we trying to save the currency union, Greek society, the credibility of the government, the creditors, the reputation of Angela Merkel, or the infallibility of ever closer-union? We certainly cannot save all of these. There will be some casualties.”