Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Greece’s finance minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis was elected Eurogroup chief on Thursday in a remarkable turnaround for a country that a decade ago was on the brink of crashing out of the euro. Pierrakakis’s peers appointed him to lead the powerful panel of finance ministers from Europe’s 20-country single currency area during a meeting in Brussels. The runner-up was Vincent Van Peteghem of Belgium.
“The old distinctions which existed in Europe…between the north and the south, the east and the west, the so-called frugals and the so-called spenders seem to have subsided,” Pierrakakis told a press conference about his appointment. “This is because the challenges that we face are more or less common,” he said, citing defence spending and tech innovation as key priorities.
Pierrakakis replaces Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe — who resigned in a surprise move last month. The 42-year-old Pierrakakis has been in charge of Greece’s finances since March, after earlier stints as minister of digital governance and education. His success reflects his nation’s spectacular about-turn from eurozone black sheep to bright star. “Greece has come such a long way in the past 10 years. Your election today as President of the Eurogroup, dear Kyriakos @Pierrakakis, is a meaningful recognition of that progress,” European Union chief Antonio Costa wrote on X.
Greece’s colossal debt and financial woes were the Eurogroup’s main preoccupation during the euro-area crisis — which for a while threatened Athens’s membership in the currency union. “Greece withstood. It’s a testament of the collective strength of a people. It is a testament of European solidarity, of receiving help at the most dire of times,” Pierrakakis said, also crediting the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
After years of austerity and painful reforms, the Mediterranean nation now runs a budget surplus and enjoys an economic growth that outpaces most EU nations.
– ‘Happy ending’ –
“Today is a proud day for our country,” Mitsotakis said in a statement, hailing the election as a “shining recognition of our country’s positive trajectory.” Pierrakakis will take office from Friday and will serve a two-and-a-half-year term. He is expected to chair his first meeting on January 19, 2026. “It’s a happy ending; a little over 10 years ago, it was the Eurogroup that devised and implemented measures to rescue Greece,” said France’s finance minister Roland Lescure.
“Greece made efforts, recovered and is now reducing its public debt, so this is an extremely powerful national and European story.” Van Peteghem and Pierrakakis — who both hail from the centre-right — were vying to replace Donohoe after the 51-year-old announced on November 20 that he was stepping down, having only been re-elected in July. He has since taken up a senior role at the World Bank.
The Eurogroup chief carries weight in policymaking, and Donohoe counted among the most influential voices in Brussels, alongside EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. Created in 1997, the body coordinates the economic and budgetary policies of the 20 countries of the eurozone, which will soon number 21, as Bulgaria prepares to adopt the single currency on January 1.
© 2024 AFP
