EIB: “It is a great honor to be part of “Greece 2.0”

The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Werner Hoyer at the Maximos Palace.

The Greek side was represented by the Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras, the Minister of Development and Investment Adonis Georgiadis, the Deputy Minister of Development and Investment Giannis Tsakiris and the Head of the Finance Office of the Prime Minister Alexis Patelis.

On the EIB side, the Vice-President Christian Thomsen, the Managing Director of the European Investment Fund (EIF) Alain Godard and the EIB Financing Director for Greece and Cyprus Ioannis Kaltsas participated.

Welcoming Mr. Hoyer, the Prime Minister referred to the previous meeting of the Council of Ministers, at which the Minister of Finance presented the prospects of the Greek economy for the current year and the coming years.

“We are pleased to say that we feel confident that we will return to a very strong growth path. “As you know, we were one of the first countries to receive approval for the Recovery and Resilience Fund and we are glad that you will also play an active role, helping us manage our investments,” he told him.

Mr. Mitsotakis underlined that the main goal has always been to bridge the investment gap that has been a permanent feature of the performance of the Greek economy over the last decade. “We have a very ambitious agenda in terms of digital transformation, climate change and the path to a low carbon economy.”

He made a special reference to the Public Electricity Company (PPC), expressing his satisfaction for the cooperation in terms of financing the new development model.

“It is a great pleasure for me to be in Athens again. I just realized that this is the 15th year I am visiting Athens. I come at least once a year,” said Hoyer, who congratulated the prime minister on “the tremendous progress that has been made under his leadership.”

“We also celebrated last week, when we had the meeting of Ecofin and the meeting of the Board of Directors of the EIB, when I praised Christos (Staikouras) for the excellent cooperation but also for the ambitious plans that we have seen” he said and added: “The fact that we are part of” Greece 2.0 “is a great honor for us, but it is logical: I remember that when I took office at the Bank ten years ago, I was here and times were difficult. I said then that we had a presence of 40 years here and we intended to stay even after the end of the crisis “.

“And it is logical that we are by your side, in the effort to flesh out this unique package prepared by the European Union. And we are happy to be a part of it. We are really happy “, he concluded.