For the European leaders, it is clear and self-evident that Greece will remain in the eurozone, provided that it abides by its commitments, Greek caretaker prime minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos said in the first hours of Thursday, following an informal European Union summit in Brussels, referring both to the summit session as well as his sideline meetings with European Council president Herman van Rompuy, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, German chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Francois Hollande.

Pikrammenos said that Greece's EU partners showed that they have the disposition to assist Greece, with economic measures that could deal with the problem of rising unemployment. He especially noted initiatives that the European Investment Bank (EIB) could take, financial tools to boost the small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), as well as for a distribution of the risk with respect to investments in Greece, and a bond loan for materialisation of major Europe-wide infrastructure projects.amna

Asked if he had the impression that the EU member states were preparing plans to mitigate the repercussions in the event of a Greek withdrawal from the eurozone, Pikrammenos replied in the negative, adding that Merkel had expressed surprise and annoyance over such speculations.