In an extensive interview with the Italian magazine L’Espresso, the Minister of National Economy and Finance and President of the Eurogroup Kyriakos Pierrakakis, sent a clear message that Europe must invest more in itself, reduce its strategic dependence and move more rapidly in a world of increasing competition.
From energy security and technological sovereignty to the digital euro, Mr Pierrakakis stresses that Europe's competitiveness and strategic autonomy will be judged by its ability to pass through the debate in practice.
Among others, Kyriakos Pierrakakis reports:
For budgetary flexibility in terms of energy investment
«The initial position of the European Commission was that there would be no deviation from the financial rules and that any decision would be taken on the basis of the real circumstances and the seriousness of the crisis that came from the Middle East.
Over the months it became clear that we were not in the most favourable scenario possible and that the crisis was continuing.
That is why the Commission has geared itself to greater budgetary flexibility, always within the existing framework of rules, in order to support energy investment.
The International Monetary Fund presented to Eurogroup evidence showing that temporary, targeted and well-planned measures are the most effective, as they are also socially fairer. By contrast, horizontal measures benefit mainly the highest income layers.
But there is also a second, even more interesting element. According to the IMF, investments already made in energy infrastructure have reduced the impact of the current energy crisis by 12%.
This shows that there is a direct link between short-term and long-term planning: what we are doing today must also serve our long-term objectives.
This 12% explains why the European Commission has decided to allow this additional budgetary flexibility for energy investment».
For the interventions that can be made in this context
«Discussions are still ongoing, but measures should help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. This may concern large investment projects in renewable energy or electricity infrastructure.
They could also include subsidies to households and businesses, to replace heating systems operated by natural gas or oil with heat pumps and photovoltaics, as well as incentives for electrification».
For the common industrial policy
«I believe that technology should be at the heart of this debate.
We need a common understanding of what "dominion" really means.
In my opinion, sovereignty should not be identified with self-sufficiency or full autonomy.
We must identify the areas where we can strengthen our industrial champions and turn them into real European champions and not just national champions. At the same time, we must recognise those areas where we can gain a competitive advantage, even if we do not have it today.
In the past we have achieved this in some cases, but we cannot do it everywhere. We must carefully select the areas that are truly strategic for our success and for strengthening Europe's economic sovereignty.
In other areas we must realise that sovereignty is not necessarily achieved through ownership of assets, but through control and an intelligent regulatory framework.».
About what it means «check»
«Let's take the cloud as an example. Two thirds of the European cloud service market is currently controlled by American technological giants, and there is not yet a truly European champion.
In this case, an intelligent regulatory approach —for example the possibility of transferring data from one provider to another at zero or almost zero costs— It could be part of the solution.
If the resources available are limited, we must direct our investments in businesses that have the potential to evolve into European champions and global competitors.
Whole ecosystems must be created around these businesses.
Without a clear strategy on where we invest, it is difficult to address issues such as artificial intelligence.
The aim, however, is not to create a European version of everything. We do not have the resources for this.».
How this is reflected in an example
«Let us consider the role played by ASML in the Netherlands or Mistral AI in France.
One of my favorite examples is 5G infrastructure.
In the period of global competition between the United States and China for 5G, Europe had two world-class industrial champions: Ericsson and Nokia.
We could have taken this opportunity to create an entire industrial ecosystem around these companies if there was a truly single European telecommunications market.
Instead, we still have 27 different national regulatory authorities.
Deutsche Telekom's CEO must cooperate with many different regulators throughout Europe, while in the United States T-Mobile has only one federal regulator to talk to.
This fragmentation is a major obstacle.
In Greece we allocated 25% of the revenue from spectrum auctions to the creation of an investment fund, which then funded start-ups operating in the 5G ecosystem.
However, Greece alone does not have the required scale to achieve the results needed.
The ideal scenario would have been that a single European radio frequency auction had taken place and that same 25% would have been invested throughout the European Union.
We could thus create a large European investment fund, which would fund start-ups across the single market developing technologies around 5G.
If we had, we would have acquired a real European industrial policy in an area where we already had a competitive advantage.
The International Monetary Fund has calculated that the cost of existing barriers to services amounts to a duty of 110% between Member States.
We must remove these obstacles to create more growth and more jobs.».
For the Savings and Investment Association
«All the legislation and regulatory initiatives we are promoting , including European pension products, aim precisely to remove these obstacles.
For citizens it is not always easy to understand what this means in their everyday lives.
If we ask "What has Europe done for you?", most will report free roaming, Erasmus or the Structural Funds.
But the Savings and Investment Association can mean a lot more: a start-up enterprise that really acquires a European dimension, inactive savings directed towards productive investment, and larger and stronger European banks».
What the euro lacks to compete with the dollar and Wan as a global currency
«We are monitoring the overall digitisation of the global financial system.
The United States chose a strategy based on private innovation and stablecoins.
They chose not to create a public digital dollar.
Europe, on the other hand, chose to create by 2029 a public digital infrastructure: the digital euro.
Private innovation can then be developed on this infrastructure and on the relevant regulatory framework.
Today about 95% of stablecoins worldwide are tied to the dollar, while less than 1% are linked to the euro.
That’s why the digital euro project is so strategically important».
To enable citizens to accept changes
«Διετέλεσα υπουργός Ψηφιακής Διακυβέρνησης στην Ελλάδα από το 2019 έως το 2023. Όταν ξεκινήσαμε, η Ελλάδα ήταν πιθανότατα η πιο γραφειοκρατική χώρα της Ευρώπης. Σήμερα έχουμε ψηφιοποιήσει περισσότερες από 2.200 δημόσιες υπηρεσίες μέσω μιας ενιαίας πλατφόρμας.
Όταν με ρωτούσαν πώς θα πείσουμε τους πολίτες για την αξία αυτού του ψηφιακού μετασχηματισμού, απαντούσα πάντα το ίδιο: Ο μόνος τρόπος να τους πείσεις είναι να το κάνεις πράξη. Όταν οι πολίτες βλέπουν απτά αποτελέσματα, τότε η αλλαγή γίνεται αποδεκτή. Έτσι, η ψηφιοποίηση εξελίχθηκε σε μία από τις πιο δημοφιλείς μεταρρυθμίσεις στη σύγχρονη ιστορία της Ελλάδας».
Για το αν το ψηφιακό ευρώ θα ενισχύσει την ευρωπαϊκή κυριαρχία
«Αναμφίβολα ναι.
Πριν όμως πρέπει να συμφωνήσουμε όλοι τι εννοούμε όταν μιλάμε για “κυριαρχία”. Στην Ευρώπη χρησιμοποιούμε συχνά αυτή τη λέξη, αλλά όχι πάντα με το ίδιο περιεχόμενο. Για ορισμένους σημαίνει αυτονομία. Για άλλους σημαίνει έλεγχο. Για κάποιους άλλους σημαίνει ιδιοκτησία. Χρειαζόμαστε μια κοινή αντίληψη.
Μόνο έτσι μπορούμε να διαμορφώσουμε μια κοινή στρατηγική. Η Ευρώπη έχει σήμερα μπροστά της ένα “μέρισμα του προφανούς”: την Ένωση Αποταμιεύσεων και Επενδύσεων, την άρση των εσωτερικών εμποδίων, τη δημιουργία μιας πραγματικά ευρωπαϊκής βιομηχανικής πολιτικής και την ενίσχυση της τεχνολογικής κυριαρχίας. Όλα αυτά αποτελούν μέρος της ίδιας στρατηγικής. Ήρθε η ώρα να περάσουμε στην πράξη».
Για τις κατηγορίες περί κακοδιαχείρισης των ευρωπαϊκών κονδυλίων
«Μόλις εντοπίσαμε προβλήματα στη διαχείριση των αγροτικών επιδοτήσεων, αποφασίσαμε να παρέμβουμε. Μεταφέραμε τις σχετικές αρμοδιότητες στην Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων, έναν θεσμό που έχει ήδη επιδείξει σημαντικά αποτελέσματα στην καταπολέμηση της φοροδιαφυγής. Αναγνωρίσαμε το πρόβλημα, το συζητήσαμε δημόσια και ζητήσαμε τη στήριξη των ευρωπαϊκών θεσμών.»
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