With renewed declarations of success regarding the state of the Greek economy, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed EU Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and the Capital Markets Union, Maria Luís Albuquerque. His upbeat message came despite Greece still ranking among the worst in key indicators affecting daily life – such as the cost of living, purchasing power, and working hours. "We are meeting at a time when Greece has definitively left the difficult years behind," Mitsotakis claimed.

Mitsotakis highlighted improvements in the stability of the banking sector:

“You will have an opportunity with the Minister and with our team to review the progress that the economy has made overall the significant improvement in the financial health of the banking sector, but also the challenges that that we face in terms of channelling further funds towards the the real economy, be it the start up ecosystem encouraging banks to lend more in terms of, of mortgages embracing new technology reducing the charges that they applied to, to customers.”

Commissioner Albuquerque, reflecting on her last visit to Greece in 2016 during the peak of the financial crisis, said:

“We shared difficulties back then, so it is good to see the recovery of the economy, how things have evolved very positively, particularly on the financial sector, because the challenges were really very, very big.”

The PM’s exchange with the Commissioner:

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Welcome. I guess we’re meeting at a very, very interesting and challenging time for the European economy as a whole. And first of all, I would just like to to mention how supportive we we are regarding the initiatives you have taken for finally resolving this outstanding issues of the Saving and Investment Union. So the rebranded Capital Markets Union, I’ve always felt.

Maria Luís Albuquerque: Expanded.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Yes. It’s always felt that this is a this is a major challenge for Europe as a whole, an issue which has been extensively addressed in the Draghi report and an initiative which Greece fully supports. You will have an opportunity with the Minister and with our team to review the progress that the economy has made overall the significant improvement in the financial health of the banking sector, but also the challenges that that we face in terms of channelling further funds towards the the real economy, be it the start up ecosystem encouraging banks to lend more in terms of, of mortgages embracing new technology reducing the charges that they applied to, to customers. So I’m sure we’ll have a, you’ll have a full, full agenda, but at least we’re meeting at a, at a time when Greece seems to have left the difficult years behind for good. And this makes also your life easier, I guess.

Maria Luís Albuquerque: Thank you very much for for having me. And it’s it’s indeed a pleasure to be in this official mission to to Greece, as I do with the different member states. I find it particularly nice to be back here, because the last time I was here was actually in 2016, but before that it was really at the peak of the crisis. We shared difficulties back then, so it is good to see the recovery of the economy, how things have evolved very positively, particularly on the financial sector, because the challenges were really very, very big.

And I’m also very thankful for your support for the Savings and Investments Union. We know how difficult it’s going to be in council to approve some of the measures, but I’m counting on your support to move ahead because it’s really key that for the European economy, we can unlock the potential, the unused potential we have due to the fragmentation of our markets. So I’m very hopeful that this time we can actually deliver more on capital markets, completing the banking union and overall serving our citizens better, because that’s that’s the aim in the end.

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