The historic joint appearance of French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the European Parliament in Strasbourg is still in progress.

Hollande referred to Greece and economic crisis highlighting among other things: “Angela Merkel and I, along with the Commission and the Member States, promoted discussions which unfortunately failed. And now we see images of abandonment. We abandoned a country whose culture still illuminates us. We renounced our responsibilities towards the Greek government. I hope now we can start discussing about the debt, to find a comprehensive solution”.

“Alexis Tsipras showed a great courageous and wanted to ask his people, before signing any agreement” Mr. Hollande noted referring to the referendum.

During his speech, he called for a final agreement that will include the settlement of the Greek debt.

Angela Merkel avoided referring directly to Greece, stressing that Germany cooperated with France to keep the euro zone united.