The European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, said Greece has made the right decision to enter the bailout mechanism of European Union and International Monetary Fund.

"Greece is in a difficult situation and it is in a state of emergency, but there is hope for the future," Barnier said.

Greece has a number of advantages within the Europe Union, in sectors like tourism, shipping and agriculture that it needs to exploit and capitalize on, the Commissioner said.

"Greek bank are healthy which is not the case with some other banks, but they will be the ones to decide whether they have to restructure or merge," Barnier said in response to a question.

The government and Greek central bank have repeatedly said they would like to see consolidation in the fragmented local banking sector to achieve mass and economies of scale, especially in view of the local recession, sovereign crisis and liquidity problems.

"Greece must make a huge effort to cut large deficits to protect future generations," Barnier added.