The Chair of the Socialists and Social Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament, Udo Bullmann, urged progressive political parties in Greece to join forces "on the road to the future of the country" and move away from the right-wing main opposition New Democracy party, which he said - bears great responsibility for the Greek financial crisis.

"I am not involved in domestic politics in Greece. But as a European Social Democrat, I see no improvement if the country's governance is taken over by New Democracy, which has great responsibility for the sinking of the country into chaos," Bullmann told EURACTIV, adding that this would not be a good choice for the future.

 "I would recommend that the progressive forces must determine the road to the future, to mutually use the experience of what went wrong and what bore fruit and join forces towards a progressive idea of how to develop this wonderful country on the basis of a better fortune for its wonderful people," said the German Social Democrat MEP.

 As he said to EURACTIV, "PASOK and Potami are already members of the Socialists and Social Democrats group, while SYRIZA is a member of the GUE-NGL Left Group. However, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has close ties with the European Socialist leaders, who publicly supported the country during the crisis and invite him regularly to their summits."

Bullmann added that there are still many things to be done in Greece and insisted on the need for equitable reforms that will not further reduce the income of poor families.

"I am talking about equitable structural reforms in the sense of a fair and just society of reforms that give a gradual boost to a new economy," the German Social Democrat MEP concluded.