“The European Commission gives the green light to reduce primary surpluses”.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Paolo Gentiloni at Maximos Mansion.
Read below the Prime Minister’s dialogue with the European Commissioner:
Prime Minister: I read your interview in “Kathimerini” and I would like to deeply thank you for your kind words about the Greek economy.
Paolo Gentiloni: This is the reality.
Prime Minister: I believe we have made great progress in the last seven months and this is reflected in the capital markets and in the wider economic situation. We are a government fully committed to an ambitious reform agenda and we have been highly credible in meeting our fiscal targets, ensuring our interlocutors that we will meet the fiscal targets for 2019 and 2020. Moreover, within this year and without delay, we are expected to start a discussion on the reduction of primary surplus targets, beginning in 2021. I believe this to be perfectly reasonable and I am glad you have acknowledged it; we are ready for this discussion.
Paolo Gentiloni: Yes, I believe that the European Commission will definitely support this discussion. The decision will be taken by the Eurogroup, but, if Greece maintains this momentum for reforms – and you have very positive economic data – I believe that this momentum can be used in order to open a discussion on these targets and the EU Commission will be very supportive.
During the meeting there was an extensive discussion on the state of the Greek economy and its prospects, as recent data show significant progress in a number of sectors. The positive developments in public finance were also highlighted and are clearly reflected in the manner in which international markets view Greek securities as well as in the ratings of credit rating agencies. At the same time, the interest rates of Greek bonds are at historically low levels.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis presented once more to the European Commissioner a number of priority issues on fiscal policy and structural reforms raised by our country.
Furthermore, in the context of the Green Deal which was announced last December, the actions that the European Commission is expected to take in order to achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction target by 2030 as well as the key objectives regarding climate neutrality by 2050 were also discussed. The Prime Minister renewed Greece’s commitment to work towards a “greener economy”, within the framework of global and European agreements, and emphasized the importance of adequate funding for a just transition of coal and lignite regions in Europe and Greece.
