ContextPress remarks by the Eurogroup President after meeting Lars Klingbeil, Germany's Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister.
Why it mattersThe Eurogroup's message to the largest euro economy: reforms and sound budgets together.
- Europe's economic performance is too weak.
- Public finances must remain sustainable.
- Reforms are difficult to deliver.
- Strengthen economic performance through reforms.
- Keep fiscal sustainability commitments.
- Learn from countries that delivered rapid reforms.
Read the speech summary
1. A hard backdrop
Meeting Germany's finance minister Lars Klingbeil ahead of the Dublin Eurogroup, President Kyriakos Pierrakakis described an exceptionally difficult setting: the war in Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, and high energy costs and price pressure weighing on firms and households. Euro-area growth has nevertheless held up better than feared.
2. Beyond budget discipline
He says sound public finances matter but will not alone bring growth or economic sovereignty. Structural obstacles must be tackled: a deeper Single Market, a faster savings and investments union, and an energy market less split by national borders. Fiscal room will shrink as defence, ageing and climate costs rise, so the Eurogroup will review revenue, spending and governance in the coming months, push the market integration and supervision package, and open a strategic debate on AI and technological sovereignty, alongside energy security, critical minerals and climate adaptation.
3. A lesson from Greece
Drawing on his experience as Greece's finance minister, he argued that painful reforms pay off politically, economically and socially, pointing to his country's fast-falling debt, positive growth and primary surpluses. The goal, he said, is a European economy less exposed to outside shocks.