Greece’s Ministry of National Economy and Finance urges rapid completion of the EU Savings and Investments Union and calls for cross-border M&A

Greece’s Ministry of National Economy and Finance published a readout of remarks by Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis at a joint event with Bruegel, where he argued that Europe should move quickly to complete the Savings and Investments Union, encompassing the Capital Markets Union and the Banking Union, and back it with a coherent EU industrial strategy. He framed the practical delivery of cross-border mergers and acquisitions as the key test of whether the initiative will have real impact. Pierrakakis said proposals and policies are already on the table and are discussed regularly in the Eurogroup and ECOFIN, but warned that “national reservations” risk diluting outcomes and called for a single market rather than “27 versions” of it. As examples of cross-border activity, he pointed to UniCredit increasing its shareholding in Alpha Bank, Credia acquiring a Maltese bank, and Greece’s positive stance towards Euronext’s acquisition of the Athens Stock Exchange, noting that these developments occurred over the past six to seven months. He also highlighted industrial policy choices in a geopolitically constrained environment and suggested that security pressures could accelerate EU integration through common defence procurement, while a separate event discussion on energy stressed the need for an EU-wide strategy rather than a patchwork of national plans.