Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met this morning with the European Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union Maria Luís Albuquerque, at Maximos Mansion.
During the meeting, they discussed the importance of the Banking Union and the Savings and Investments Union for the growth of the European economy by increasing investment for businesses of all sizes – including SMEs – and in all sectors, but also for improving the living standards of European citizens by improving their savings options.
They also exchanged views on issues within the Commissioner’s remit, the direction of whose initiatives the Greek government supports.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister and the Commissioner had the following dialogue:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Welcome. It’s a real pleasure to have you. I guess we’re meeting at a very interesting and challenging time for the European economy as a whole. First of all, I would just like to mention how supportive we are regarding the initiatives you have taken for finally resolving these outstanding issues of Savings and Investments Union, the rebranded Capital Markets Union.
Maria Luís Albuquerque: Expanded.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Yeah, expanded. I have always thought that this is a major challenge for Europe as a whole, an issue which has been extensively addressed in the Draghi report, an initiative which Greece fully supports.
You will also have an opportunity with the Minister and with our team to review the progress that the Greek economy has made overall, the significant improvement in the financial health of the banking sector, but also the challenges that we face in terms of channelling further funds towards the real economy, be it the startup ecosystem, encouraging banks to lend more in terms of mortgages, embracing new technology, reducing the charges that they apply to customers.
I’m sure you’ll have a full agenda, but at least we’re meeting at a time when Greece seems to have left the difficult years behind for good. This makes also your life easier, I guess.
Maria Luís Albuquerque: Thank you very much for having me. It’s indeed a pleasure to be in this official mission to Greece, as I do with the different member states. I find it particularly nice to be back here because the last time I was here was actually in 2016, but before that, it was really at the peak of the crisis. We shared difficulties back then. So, it is good to see the recovery of the economy, how things have evolved very positively, particularly in the financial sector, because the challenges were really very big.
I’m also very thankful for your support for the Savings and Investments Union. We know, Kyriakos (Pierrakakis), how difficult it’s going to be in Council to approve some of the measures, but I’m counting on your support to move ahead because it’s really key that for the European economy, we can unlock the potential, the unused potential we have due to the fragmentation of our markets.
I’m very hopeful that this time we can actually deliver more on capital markets, completing the banking union, and overall, serving our citizens better, because that’s the aim in the end.
