Greece must respect bailout, or EU reaction will be "different": Juncker

[STRASBOURG] Greece's new government after the September 20 election must respect the bailout agreement struck with the eurozone, or the EU's resolve to keep Greece in the single currency bloc could change, the European Commission president said on Wednesday.

"It was absolutely essential for us to recognise and to say that Grexit was not an option. If we hadn't said that loudly and clearly, Grexit could have happened," Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament in his state of the union address.

"The European Union is delighted to have Greece as a member and I have been profoundly perturbed in recent months by comments that Greece should leave the EU," he said.

"We have agreed on a programme and I would like this programme to be respected by all future Greek governments. This time we all need to realise that we are serious and for real and we require respect of the arrangements and agreements that have been reached," Mr Juncker said.

"If this time rules agreed will not be respected, the reaction of the European Union and the euro zone will be different," Mr Juncker said.

REUTERS