George Papandreou Quotes & Sayings

“The Marshall Plan was after destruction, and the U.S. came to our help and obviously this was very, very important for the future of Europe. I think now we have all the capabilities of doing it on our own and, in a sense, we have to.”

“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.”

“Unfortunately, corruption is widespread in government agencies and public enterprises. Our political system promotes nepotism and wasting money. This has undermined our legal system and confidence in the functioning of the state. One of the consequences is that many citizens don't pay their taxes.”

“We stand united, facing the big responsibility to change our country into a nation of justice, solidarity, humanity and green development.”

“We have a rise of extremism because we need to give a sense that we are targeting some of the deeper problems in Greece, the injustices.”

“Many people have been pontificating, and patronizing, and moralizing, and scapegoating, saying you Greeks, you are the problem. I would say we Greeks have a problem. We are not the problem.”

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

“If we had a consensus we wouldn't have to go to a referendum.”

“I have been supporting the European Union, but we are still a work in progress. We have to become more of a United States of Europe. We should talk about electing a president of the E.U., rather than having one selected from the heads of government.”

“Greece's history in the drachma was an up-and-down history, a roller coaster.”