The European Union`s Lisbon Treaty, the bloc`s rule book, does not provide for a country to quit the eurozone without at the same time exiting the European Union, the EU`s executive arm said Thursday. EPA/BGNES
The European Commission does not see any possibility of Greece leaving the Eurozone and remaining in the EU, according to official EC spokeswoman Karolina Kottova.
"The Lisbon Treaty doesn't foresee an exit from the Eurozone without exiting the EU," Kottova told a briefing in Brussels Tuesday.
The Lisbon Treaty, which became effective in December 2009, included for the first time a clause for exiting the EU, but not a clause on giving up on the single EU currency.
EC is in charge of being the guardian of the treaties.
Kottova said discussions about Greece at the meeting of the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations in Cannes remain "very fluid and the outcome is not clear."
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou surprised European leaders by announcing plans for a referendum which was set to give the heavily indebted Greek government EUR 130 B and a 50% write-off of its debts, in return for deeply unpopular austerity measures.
Meanwhile, the G20 are holding an emergency in Cannes to discuss the Eurozone debt crisis.
Papandreou told reporters in Cannes his referendum would in effect be a vote on whether Greece should remain in the Eurozone.
Arriving at the G20 in Cannes and ahead of Thursday afternoon's consultation and working meetings, European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso made the following statement:
"I want to make a very urgent and heartfelt appeal for national and political unity in Greece.
In the European Union we have agreed on far reaching measures to support Greece. But for those measures to be implemented it is critically important to have stability in the country.
Without the agreement of Greece to the EU/IMF program, the conditions for Greek citizens would become much more painful, in particular for the most vulnerable. The consequences would be impossible to foresee.
That is why I call on the government and the political leaders of Greece to show that they are ready to work for national political unity and for achieving the broad support needed for the implementation of the program. Indeed, the Commission has been asking for this kind of support since the beginning of the crisis.
If this support was important yesterday, it is absolutely crucial today".