Everyone needs to carry out his own personal revolution.

Politics also means educating people. It's important to speak openly with our fellow Greeks, to tell them what our problems are and that we have to change something.

We in Europe have great capacities.

Greece has given Europe the opportunity to fix a defect in the euro zone, that is the fact that we did not have a fiscal union. Now steps have been taken to begin that process. And there is more solidarity from nation to nation, and that is a good thing. That has been Greece's gift to Europe.

I have a deep sense of responsibility to my country and Greek people.

If Greece had gone through a very normal political life, I may have not been in politics. But just the fact that I lived through huge upheavals and very difficult struggles and polarization and the barbarism of dictatorships - that made me feel that we had to change this country.

Despite the deep reforms we are making, traders and speculators have forced interest rates on Greek bonds to record highs.