In remarks published by Greece's Ministry of National Economy and Finance from the EU Finance Podcast, Minister of National Economy and Finance and Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis argued that the Savings and Investments Union should be a central reform for Europe’s competitiveness and growth. He said the core objective is to channel more than EUR 10 trillion of European savings into investment, remove barriers in capital markets and complete long-discussed reforms including the Capital Markets Union and the Banking Union. A meaningful degree of central European supervision of capital markets was presented as essential, particularly as innovation such as stablecoins and the implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework make nationally fragmented supervisory structures harder to sustain. The discussion also linked financial integration to technology, banking consolidation and payments. Pierrakakis said Europe needs larger cross-border banking groups and fewer obstacles to cross-border mergers if it wants banks that can invest more in technology and compete globally. On digital finance, he described the digital euro as the core public infrastructure for modernising payments and supporting the international role of the euro, alongside greater private innovation in areas such as stablecoins and interoperable payment systems. Drawing on Greece's recent experience, he cited Euronext's acquisition of the Athens stock exchange and UniCredit's stake of more than 30% in Alpha Bank as examples of integration, and said Greece's wider shift to a digital financial ecosystem and broader use of digital payments helped reduce tax evasion and the shadow economy while supporting fiscal surpluses and faster debt reduction.

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