Speaking at a panel with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that Greece has made huge efforts to combat the economic crisis in recent years. He pointed the need for stability and called for Europe’s health to diminish inequalitiese in the south and north of Europe.
Tsipras pointed to the efforts Greece has made to reform the economy. “We lost 25% of our GDP and unemployment skyrocketed,” he said. He criticized Europe’s approach to Greeece. “Greece needs considerable structural reforms. We must all understand that next to balanced budget, we also have to have growth,” he said while also demanding more solidarity through a “co-ordinated growth strategy.”
Schaeuble disagreed with Tsipras in his response. He said that Germany has its own problems, including its ageing population. “If we want to make Europe stronger, then we should implement what we agreed to implement. We could just say implementation, stupid,” he said.