Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Greece's Minister of National Economy and Finance and president of the Eurogroup, called for a stronger European Union with fewer barriers between member states, arguing the move would ultimately benefit everyone.
Speaking on Tuesday, September 15, at an event in Berlin co-organized by the Hertie School and the Jacques Delors Institute titled "Where will Europe's future growth come from?", Pierrakakis said there is now a growing understanding that the cost of "Non-Europe" is higher than the cost of integration.
He said technology must sit at the center of modern policy-making, and pointed to Greece's reform record as a potential source of inspiration for other EU states, noting that reforms deliver results and that the European Union needs Germany just as Germany needs the European Union.
Barriers between member states
Pierrakakis said EU governments had agreed that greater scale and fewer internal barriers would help Europe, but that discussions on individual policy areas, whether energy, banking or capital markets, kept running into a national caveat. He said national concerns are legitimate, but changes in the external environment have shifted the calculations of member states, producing the growing recognition that the cost of "Non-Europe" is now higher.
He said he was optimistic about progress across the policy agenda through implementation of the proposals contained in the Draghi and Letta reports.
Savings and Investment Union
Pierrakakis pointed to the Savings and Investments Union as a key priority, saying greater harmonization of capital markets supervision is needed to remove barriers that still exist between EU member states.
He cited an International Monetary Fund calculation that barriers between member states in the services sector amount to hidden tariffs of 110 percent, with the equivalent figure in manufacturing at 44 percent. He said the absence of a comparable level of common supervisory capacity is like having the euro without a strong European Central Bank.
He added that Europe needs to show progress on every issue outlined in Mario Draghi's report, including integration of energy markets, integration of telecommunications markets, a sector where Europe historically held a technological advantage, and technology more broadly. He repeated that technology must be at the heart of policy-making because technological change affects budgets and societies, describing it as the foundation of every field in the 21st century and the central, horizontal thread running through all policy.
On rising debt in France
Asked whether he was concerned about rising debt in countries such as France, Pierrakakis said, according to the Athens News Agency, that the issue concerns him but does not alarm him. He pointed to temporary external factors, such as the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, that are adding pressure across Europe, while noting that European markets have performed better than markets outside Europe.
He said that although the euro crisis left behind stronger European institutions, those institutions cannot replace national strategies. He said fiscal stability, targeted fiscal policies and growth strategies remain essential by definition, adding that every euro needs to count.
Lessons from Greece
Asked what message Greece's "success story" might hold for other member states such as Germany, Pierrakakis said he does not believe one country can teach another, though it might inspire it. On Germany specifically, he repeated that Europe needs Germany and Germany needs Europe, referencing the reform package Berlin is pursuing and saying that if there is one point of inspiration from Greece, it is that reforms deliver results.
Asked about the old distinction between "frugal" and "spendthrift" member states, the minister said he does not believe in it, citing the Greek budget as a strong example against that divide.
Investment as a European priority
Pierrakakis said managing major issues at the European level, particularly investment, should be a central need for future European policy. He said it would make less sense to speak of a Greek ecosystem for startup investment than to build a pan-European one. Asked about European public goods, he pointed to defense and energy, saying both savings and innovation need to coexist, and cited the European Space Agency as an example of effectiveness.
The Eurogroup president also said the EU should not focus its investment on fields where it is not a frontrunner, but should instead regulate them. He said it would be more sensible for Europe to assert its sovereignty and impose rules on how companies such as United States tech giants operate on its territory rather than trying to compete with them directly, saying "either you own something or you control it." He added that Europe has strong players who need to be equipped and supported to lead in the fields where they already hold an advantage.
Meetings in Berlin
During his visit to Berlin, Pierrakakis was due to meet with Chancellor Friedrich Merz and with Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, his counterpart.
The talks were set to focus on the state and outlook of the European economy, with emphasis on the challenges facing growth and competitiveness. Particular weight was to be given to fiscal coordination among eurozone countries, alongside discussion of further European financial integration through deepening the Banking Union and advancing the Savings and Investments Union.
