With just four days for Europe and Greece to reach an agreement on the debt crisis, the Greek Prime Minister held court in the European Parliament in what was set to be a rather heated debate – he entered to applause, whistles and boos from both the far-left and far-right.
Speaking to the house he clarified that the referendum result wasn’t about saying No to Europe.
“This was a courageous choice by the Greek people, and this is not a decision of breaking off negotiations with Europe. It’s one of going back instead, of returning to the founding principles of European unification, of democracy, of solidarity, going back to mutual respect and going back to equality, it’s a crystal clear message”.
After the debate he will face further grillings from EU lenders on his proposals to be submitted by the end of the week, ahead of an emergency eurozone summit which could decide the future for Greece and the EU.