“The energy crisis highlights in a compelling way the need for a common European energy policy. The needs of the economy impose a common policy,” Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, said.
Hatzidakis participated in the Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings held in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, speaking about the issue of the impact of energy prices on the competitiveness of the European economy.
In the speech, Hatzidakis underlined that the EU must move in 2 directions:
– A common plan for energy networks with geographically distributed production centers.
– A unified economic plan in order to have economies of scale and stop the phenomenon of indirectly undermining one country’s plans.
Hatzidakis noted that in this context it is appropriate to promote the energy interconnection of Europe with the countries of the south-eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Israel), stressing that in addition to strengthening energy security, the EU geopolitical interests are also served in this way.
During the discussion with representatives of the IMF on the path of the eurozone economy, Hatzidakis focused on the need to complete the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union, while he reiterated the commitment of the Greek government to continue following the path of fiscal responsibility, regardless of the new fiscal rules agreed last December. And he noted that “after the painful experience of the past decade, we will do everything we can to keep the IMF away from Greece. It is already clear that the Greek economy has entered a completely different upward path, which is also recorded in the IMF reports.”
The agenda also included a presentation by the Belgian Presidency of its work program for the first half of the year in the economic and fiscal sector, as well as a discussion of the economic and fiscal impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In addition, the Ministers adopted conclusions on the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey (ASGS), the Alert Mechanism Report (AMR) and the recommendation on the economic policy of the Eurozone for 2024.
On the sidelines of the meetings, the minister held a bilateral meeting with the new President of the European Investment Bank, Nadia Calvino, who committed to support the government’s initiatives for strengthening the Greek economy.
