“I very much agree with [European Central Bank President] Mario Draghi and [President of the European Commission] Jean-Claude Juncker, that Grexit is simply not on the table, it’s not discussed, I will not even prepare any thoughts about it,” Dijsselbloem said addressing the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
The Eurogroup chief added that his target was to keep the Eurozone intact, despite any difficulties. “We’ll encounter a lot of problems, yet we’ll work together and we’ll stick together.”
Dijsselbloem welcomed the agreement with Athens reached on Friday, extending Greece’s bailout for four months, calling it the first step in restoring the trust between Greece and its European partners.
“I think this agreement Friday and, hopefully, the progress we will make today, and in national parliaments over the course of this week, will also contribute to restoring trust between all parties and help get the recovery of Greece back on track,” he said.
The recent election win of Greece’s anti-austerity Syriza party, which vowed to revise the country’s bailout terms, has created much uncertainty regarding Greece’s future in the Eurozone.
Greece currently owes around $270 billion to the troika of creditors comprising the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF in loans issued over Greece's sovereign debt crisis.
