ECOFIN - Economic and Financial Affairs Council
ECOFIN - Economic and Financial Affairs Council
07/03/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/03/2026 09:41
Remarks by Kyriakos Pierrakakis, President of the Eurogroup, at the Rencontres Économiques 17:35 Kyriakos Pierrakakis, President of the Eurogroup, attended the Rencontres[...]
Today, the President of the Eurogroup, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, spoke at the 'Rencontres Économiques' in Aix-en-Provence on the subject of 'One World, Clashing Visions: Who Sets the Standards?'
Participating in a panel discussion with - among others - the Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen and French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, the President highlighted that 'the era of geopolitical innocence is over'. Referring to how the EU should react to the new geo-political situation the President added that 'the EU needs a mentality shift'.
We have European champions, we have technology champions in Europe, we have banking champions in Europe. We just need a mentality shift, and the mentality shift is that we shouldn't think in terms of national champions, French, Greek, German, but in terms of European champions. If we don't manage to grow European companies at European and thus global champion status, they won't be able to globally compete in a world that is technologically disrupted in the most drastic possible terms.
Kyriakos Pierrakakis, President of the Eurogroup
He also emphasised that in the context of budgetary constraints Europe needs to make choices where to build European champions.
In 5G we have the capacity in terms of infrastructure. We have two global champions, one in Finland, one in Sweden. But what did we do as Europeans? Did we create an ecosystem around these companies? No, we still have a fragmented telecom market. We still have 27 auctions for 5G and we will have the same for 6G.
And we don't have a clear strategy. So A, you get your house in order, you fix the plumbing of the European economy, of the European system, to unlock that obvious growth that's sitting there in front of you. And B, you make choices which are strategic, in order to be non-asymmetrically interdependent. You will not be fully autonomous, but the idea is to be less and less dependent, to hedge.
Kyriakos Pierrakakis, President of the Eurogroup
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