Juncker says EU must 'respect Greek dignity'

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged euro zone governments on Monday to find a solution for Greece's funding crisis that would respect "Greek dignity" and keep the common currency area together. "I am against 'Grexit'," Juncker told a conference in answer to a question, saying that while the "systemic dangers" of Greece quitting the euro were less than in a previous crisis three years ago, other unspecified dangers existed. "It's about the love we have to have for the Greek people," he told the conference, which was organized by the Friends of Europe and Jacques Delors Institute. He said Greece faced a "humanitarian crisis" -- a formulation used by the new government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras -- adding: "We have to give an answer." Juncker noted that the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers had in November 2012, at the last meeting that Juncker himself chaired in his capacity as Luxembourg's finance minister, laid out several possible ways in which Athens' debt burden could be eased -- if it met commitments to creditors. Tsipras has said he hopes EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday can produce an accord to solve the crisis. Juncker, who has taken on a mediating role that has irked some in the German and other creditor governments, said he did not want to see Greece isolated and urged fellow Europeans to have regard for democratic choices made in Greece. "We have 19 democracies" in the euro zone, he told the conference. "I don't like this game of 18 against one. The integrity of the euro zone must be maintained." (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Larry King)