At the start of the atypical work Ecofin of April 12, the Minister of National Economy and Finance Kyriakos Pierrakakis made the following statement:

“Yesterday, during the first Eurogroup in which I participated, I emphasized that the Greek government is focused on a fiscal prudence policy, while at the same time focusing on reforms it would completely unlock the potential of the Greek economy.

Of course, we discussed the current situation of the international and European economy, obviously emphasizing the US duties and the impact on European economies, as well as the optimal response that the EU should have. in this particular policy of the United States.

We believe that a fair international order based on rules is the ultimate choice of European Union And it should be the policy of all international partners.

We do not want a trade war with the United States. We believe that we should negotiate a mutually beneficial solution, as the Greek prime minister has described. However, there are specific policy options that we should follow in any possible scenario. We need to broaden our trade agreements with countries such as India and at the same time we will have to follow the full range of solutions proposed by DraGhi and Letta reports, removing the full range of barriers already existing in European economies.

Today, at Ecofin we are discussing another important topic: the way European security and defense priorities are funded. Greece has long supported the need for further defense cooperation between EU Member States.

In this respect, we welcome the European Commission’s Rearm Europe initiative, welcome the activation of the escape clause. We firmly believe that in the unity of the European Union there are solutions to all the challenges we have in front of us. “