“The energy crisis highlights in a compelling way the need for a truly common European energy policy. The needs of the economy dictate it.” This was noted by the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, who participated yesterday and today in the meetings of the Eurogroup and ECOFIN in Brusselstalking about the issue of the impact of energy prices on the competitiveness of the European economy.

In the intervention, Mr. Hatzidakis mentioned that the EU must move in 2 axes: The first is joint planning for energy networks with geographically distributed production centers. And the second is the unified economic planning to have economies of scale and to stop the phenomenon of indirect undermining of one country’s plans by others. Mr. 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, geopolitical interests are also served in this way of the EU.

During the discussion with representatives of the IMF on the path of the eurozone economy, Mr. 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 with our policy. It is already clear that the Greek economy has entered a completely different upward trajectory, which is also recorded in the IMF reports themselves.”

The agenda it also included a presentation by the Belgian Presidency of its work program for the first half of the year in the field of economics and finance, as well as discussion of the economic and fiscal impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In addition, 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, Ms. Nadia Calvinio, with whom they discussed the priorities of the new President at the Bank. Ms. Kalvinio committed to Mr. Hatzidakis to support the government’s initiatives to support the Greek economy.

Hadjidakis