Main points of Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis’ intervention during the meeting of the EU General Affairs Council (Tuesday, 26 May 2020)

During today’s videoconference meeting of the EU General Affairs Council, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Miltiadis Varvitsiotis stressed the need for fast action on the part of the EU in response to the repercussions of the pandemic crisis and the immediate drawing up of a new EU budget, adapted to the new state of affairs.

In his intervention, Mr. Varvitsiotis pointed to the position expressed by the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, namely that we must act quickly in response to the economic crisis; we must act firmly and our response must be flexible. “We mustn’t delay any further. Precious time has been lost. We have to act fast,” he stressed.

He highlighted that the French-German initiative for the creation of a Recovery Fund for the European economy is a move in the right direction. He added, however, that €500 billion cannot be considered the ceiling on the fund, but a foundation on which the European Commission must build its proposal.

He reiterated that funding should take the form of grants, rather than loans, explaining that the European economies are so interconnected that “the money spent on a speedy recovery of the European economy will benefit all of the countries, and mainly the largest exporters within the EU.”