Greek crisis: Grexit would signal Europe’s impotence, claims French PM Manuel Valls

Allowing Greece to leave the Eurozone would be “an admission of impotence,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said. 

 

It was critical the country stay in the currency bloc, he said in a keynote speech today, saying a deal between Greece and its creditors – the IMF, the EC and the ECB – was “within grasp”. 

 

“Keeping Greece in the euro and therefore in the heart of Europe and the EU is something of the utmost geostrategic and geopolitical importance,” he said, noting the years of political and cultural ties linking France with the “great European nation”. 

 

But Valls called on Alexis Tsipras' government to reform its tax and pensions systems, and gain a “clear perspective” on how its creditors would handle its debt.