Athanasios Orphanides Quotes

We have the eurozone. Could we accept to be cleared, regulated, and de facto have inflows and outflows from a country that has decided to leave the E.U.? For me, definitely not.

Is Europe going to be breaking? I don't think so. I think the euro will stay. I think at the end of the day Europeans will find the solutions in order to hold Europe together.

I would like to see Greece as a case study, an opportunity for Europe to strengthen its coordination of fiscal policy.

Peace in Europe can only come through union in one economic system. The United States of Europe are overdue.

I am in favour of a different Europe, where each state can adopt its fiscal and monetary system.

I'm a pessimist about the euro, but not about Europe. So the southern periphery, Spain, Italy, Greece, leave - Italy might be the first to go - and the rest stay. That will work just fine. But unless they want to give up democracy, I don't see greater fiscal union as the answer.

If I had political responsibility, I would want to prepare for a plan B that would foresee that the European currency union, that the eurozone, no longer necessarily consists of 17 member states. And that means to make provisions so that other countries are not pulled into the maelstrom through contagion.

The euro is our common fate, and Europe is our common future.

The 1992 crisis proved that the existing system was unstable. Not moving forward to the euro would have set up Europe for even more disruptive crises.

The euro is a vital issue for Germany. There is no other country that derives as much benefit from the common domestic market and the monetary union as Germany.

If you put all the European countries together, we are the biggest economy in the world.

As for the single market, the E.U.'s landmark achievement, there is no question that a euro zone breakup would severely disrupt its operation in the short run.

It's political glue inside Europe to keep it together - the euro is the best thing going for it since the creation of the common market.

The Europeans governments have massively changed the landscape in Europe. There is no doubt about it. They have put together the European Financial Stability Fund. They have discussed and approved the European Stability Mechanism.

Markets themselves are looking for stability, and I think we have underestimated the capacity of Europe... to actually create a more stable framework for the whole issue of debt management, bonds, and so on.

I think that France has not made it clear enough recently to our German friends how important it is to introduce euro bonds as a tool against speculation. And how the necessary budget discipline needs to be accompanied by growth.

Integration is the most important asset Europe has, and the key component to European integration is the euro.

But I would bet that the euro continues to exist and that its importance as a global currency will likely increase.

In order to consolidate the euro we need to harmonise our economic, fiscal and social policies, hence we are going toward greater integration.

What we should be doing in the EU as a whole is more economic integration in the single market, rather than less.

Germany is the biggest economy of Europe and we need Germany on board for the economic reforms of Europe, including, of course, the deepening of the internal market, resisting protectionism, and supporting further economic policy coordination.

The presidency of the Euro group is an interesting and important task.

The euro is not a currency. It is a political weapon to force countries to implement the policies decided by the E.U. and keep them on a leash.

Whoever pays should control; whoever pays should sanction. I agree. But budgetary union should be completed by a partial mutualisation of debts through eurobonds.

The heart of the matter is that the very nature of the European Union, and of this country's relationship with it, has fundamentally changed after the coming into being of the European monetary union and the creation of the eurozone, of which - quite rightly - we are not a part.