Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met this morning with the European Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud, and Public Administration Piotr Serafin, at Maximos Mansion.
During the meeting, the European Commission’s proposals for the new Multiannual Financial Framework were discussed. The Prime Minister referred to the importance of increasing competitiveness in the whole of the European economy, while stressing the importance of Cohesion and the Common Agricultural Policy.
Furthermore, Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated the need to create a European financial instrument that could finance flagship defense programs of common European interest, such as those included in the EU Defense Readiness Roadmap 2030.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister and the EU Commissioner had the following dialogue:
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Welcome. It’s a real pleasure to have you in Greece. And I guess also an opportunity for you to have discussions also with our economic team and to witness, I think, the progress that our economy has made over the past years. Of course, it’s also an opportunity to have a discussion about the hottest topic of the next year, none other than the new MFF. It’ll be an opportunity for us to present our positions, which I’m sure are relatively well known.
I would like to congratulate you on the effort you have put into putting forward very, very interesting ideas and suggestions, especially when it comes to the simplification of the European budget, which I think for most European citizens is a completely incomprehensible black box. And I think It’s better if we add degrees of transparency when it comes to the communication.
For countries such as Greece, we remain fully committed to the pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion Policy, which for our country are associated with our membership in the European Union. When we think of Europe and European funding, we always think of Cohesion and the Common Agricultural Policy.
But of course, we also fully understand the need to have a separate pillar for investments in European competitiveness and that part of this allocation, something to be discussed, needs to be merit-based. But of course, it’s also important to ensure that in some way, shape, or form, all countries will benefit from this new Competitiveness Fund.
So we’ll have a chance to discuss in more detail. Again, welcome and apologies for bringing back memories of the COVID pandemic, which, of course, we should remember was, I think, a point, a crisis where Europe really stood up and delivered for its citizens.
Piotr Serafin: Many thanks, Mr. Prime Minister, for hosting us here despite visibly difficult circumstances. Get well soon.
Indeed, as you said, our delegation came to Athens to present the proposal of the Commission for another long-term budget, of almost €2 trillion euros, for the period after 2027. And we indeed would also appreciate your suggestions and would listen to the concerns that you might have with that proposal.
We believe that when it comes to the cohesion and agriculture that you have mentioned, Mr. Prime Minister, we did manage to preserve the sufficient resources for those policies so important for Greece, but not only for Greece. But at the same time, we put the emphasis on what we believe we must do in the current geopolitical context. We definitely need to invest more into competitiveness, but also into our defence and security.
Of course, when it comes to competitiveness, we are fully aware that we are not going to flood the competitiveness gap with money alone. We should rather concentrate primarily on simplification and reduction of the administrative burden, but money is also necessary.
Therefore, here, the focus will be on key strategic sectors. The focus will be on startups, which might also bring an element of geographical balance into that equation. And the focus will be not just on grants, but also on a bit more sophisticated financial instruments that are needed to stimulate investments in Europe into innovation and supporting our competitiveness. So that’s why we put this Competitiveness Fund, more than €400 billion, and we hope that will be appreciated also by the member states in the discussions that are ahead of us.
Then on defence and security, here, our proposal is to increase by a factor of five the level of spendings on those areas. I have read your article lately. I could not agree more with what you have said, that defence is our ultimate public good and that we should really concentrate on projects that cannot be implemented by one member state alone, and this is indeed the focus of our proposal.
Talking about security, we cannot forget about external borders. So here, as well, we propose to increase funds by a factor of three for the protection of external borders and for management of migration. By the way, this factor of three is going to also be reflected in the allocation for Greece when it comes to this area.
But obviously, we also need to talk about ways and means to finance the EU budget. It might be a bit more complicated debate than the one on how to spend, but nevertheless, we need to have this discussion clearly. And I also hope that being here in Athens we will have an opportunity to gather your opinions and your suggestions also on that issue.
One last word, if you allow me, Mr. Prime Minister. You cannot even imagine how happy I am that today I can say, being in Athens, it’s good to be in Greece, in a country of economic success. I know how difficult period Greece went through, but you are a visible proof that structured reforms can really bring back growth and can ultimately guarantee a better future for our people. Thank you.
