The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the European Parliament on Wednesday morning, where he addressed the recent dramatic developments.

Mr. Tsipras underlined early on in his speech that the Greek people do not want a rupture with Europe and that his aim to focus on reaching a fair and sustainable solution, by avoiding mistakes of the past that have condemned the Greek economy and society to a deep depression.

The Prime Minister noted that his government undertook the programs that have been in force for the past five years and assumed personal responsibility for everything that has occurred over the past five months, when he came to power. He underlined that the Greek people made a major effort and have been exhausted, while Greece has been turned into an experiment on austerity, which he argued has failed.

According to the Greek PM, the proposal which has been submitted to the Eurogroup and to the ESM includes reliable reforms, such as addressing the major unemployment problem. Mr. Tsipras argued that his funding proposals do not aim to burden European taxpayers, adding that the funds intended to save the Greek people were given to save the banks.

Greece has not received any European funding since August 2014, when it was owed 7.2 billion euros and would have to make loan payments worth 17.5 billion euros to collect the outstanding aid. Mr. Tsipras stressed that previous Greek governments were also to blame for the situation, as none of the reforms implemented improved tax collection services or tackled corruption.

Mr. Tsipras concluded his speech by stating that Europe is a critical crossroads and that the Greek crisis is a European problem requiring a European solution.

Watch the discussion in the European Parliament on the Greek crisis live: