Nigel Farage Quotes

Even though I resigned as Papandreou's adviser early in 2006 and turned into his government's staunchest critic during his mishandling of the post-2009 Greek implosion, my public interventions in the debate on Greece and Europe have carried no whiff of Marxism.

More cuts were needed to avoid exiting the eurozone.

The Greeks do not have the option of borrowing because nobody will lend to them.

For the next three years, we're going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default.

Dealing with Greece's problems will be more difficult if Greece is not a member of the eurozone.

I hope Greece is going to remain in the Euro zone.

Austerity is not part of the European treaties; democracy and the principle of popular sovereignty are.

There's no more place in the euro zone for well-meaning laxness when dealing with deficits and failings. If the demands on Greece aren't taken seriously, we'll get stuck in quicksand. In the worst case, this would make it acceptable for one tranche to not be paid out. It is in the Greeks own interest not to test that.

Not all Greeks are ready to do whatever is necessary to stay in the euro.

For a quarter-century, and changing only very recently, the main IMF prescription has been budgetary belt-tightening for patients much too poor to own belts. IMF led austerity has frequently resulted in riots, coups, and the collapse of public services.

Countries themselves need to do everything possible to remain in the euro zone.

I think it is incumbent on the rest of us - and I would suggest that includes other European leaders - to pause in what has become a very popular game of telling the Greeks how to run their lives.

Greece could default on its debts and even exit currency bloc if it cannot deliver reforms.

As long as I feel I am doing what I think is right and just for my country, for the Greek people, that is enough for me. Saving Greece from this crisis was the first thing on the agenda. We are now on a much more normalised road.

I think the facts reveal that the European partners have taken extraordinary measures to help Greece address its problems.

The vast majority of Greeks accept the need for reform and want to keep our country inside the euro zone.

Democracies can't handle austerity measures very well.

We will do whatever we could do to keep Greece inside the euro and inside Europe.

If we were the problem, it would be very convenient - kick Greece out, everything's fine. What would happen to Spain, what about Portugal, what about Italy, what about the whole of the euro zone? We need more cooperation and less simplification and prejudice.

Despite the deep reforms we are making, traders and speculators have forced interest rates on Greek bonds to record highs.

I know people are looking at what's happening in Washington and then they also look at events in Europe, in Greece and Portugal and other places and worry about that.

In fighting the debt crisis, E.U. countries have enhanced co-operation and carried out reform with tremendous courage. This is laudable.

Our position in Europe is not negotiable. The Greek people will defend it by all means. But participation in the euro involves rules and obligations, which we must consistently meet. Greece belongs to Europe and Europe cannot be envisaged without Greece.

Europe and the euro zone have no reason, rationally, to push Greece out of the euro. But this is a system in which many parties, many countries, many governments, many electorates participate and we could have events which, rationally, are not controllable.

People are increasingly frustrated that decisions taken further and further away from them mean their living standards are slashed through enforced austerity or their taxes are used to bail out governments on the other side of the continent.