Nine months after Kyriakos Pierrakakis first contacted Pascal Donahue, he succeeded the Irishman as Eurogroup chairman and opened a new page for the country and its prospects at a time of intense international upheaval.
Donahue’s resignation for the World Bank brought Pierrakakis very close to a top “bet”, which he approached with a flurry of moves, but which went under the radar until it led him to the target. It is a personal and historic national success – of both the now president of the Eurogroup and the European Stability Mechanism, as many inside and outside Greece acknowledge – backed by their own “campaign” in Europe, the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Foreign Minister, Giorgos Gerapetritis and other crucial links in his succession race.
The election is interpreted as a strong signal for the course of the Greek economy, as ten years after the crisis, when the country was in danger of being out of the Eurozone, Greece through Kyriakos Pierrakakis now takes the reins of the Eurogroup.
It is the result of many positive steps in the chain of the economy, of fiscal performance, of the complex balances in the puzzle of Europe’s strongmen, North and South, of the alliances recorded from country to country and within the European People’s Party, but also of the stamp of the protagonist of the developments himself during yesterday’s decisive meeting of his peers in Brussels.
Kyriakos Pierrakakis entered the room while his Belgian counterpart had not yet withdrawn his candidacy.
However, the Greek minister had in fact already won the game. German Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister, Lars Klingbeil, stating on entering the meeting – and not coincidentally – that he had the support of Chancellor Merz to vote for Pierrakakis, essentially heralded the victory of the Greek minister, who had already, it was rumoured, garnered the votes of the French and Eurozone centrists; his support pledges had already far outnumbered 11.
Under the rules, 11 “yes” votes were needed from the 20 ministers for Pierrakakis’ success, which proved to be enhanced since he also secured alliances from countries that were not expected.
He and co-candidate Mr Van Petegem took the floor for five minutes and then the 20 ministers of the institution took what is known as the “indicative vote”. The Eurogroup’s chairman, Cypriot Marios Keraynos, did the count and called the two candidates, informing them of the result.
Then, Mr. Van Petegem decided to withdraw from the race and in the now official vote, Mr. Pierrakakis was elected unanimously.
“A watchful eye” next to Pierrakakis since Wednesday night, when they arrived in Brussels, was the New Democracy MP and master of European international relations, Tassos Hadjivassiliou, while in the room with him during the vote was Greece’s permanent representative to the EU, Yannis Vrailas.
A significant role in the delegation was undoubtedly played by the president of the EPA, Zafeira Kastrinaki, his associate Maria Diamanti, and his diplomatic advisor Stratos Efthymiou.
But the moves that helped “lock in” Pierrakakis’ victory in the institutional political backstage were related to contacts and direct consultations with European leaders by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who had hosted Manfred Weber, the president of the European People’s Party Manfred Weber
Several international media (Financial Times, -, Politico) had “predicted” the victory of Pierrakakis in the battle for the Eurogroup leadership from the moment the candidacy was announced, with specific references to the positive message for our country and the day ahead.
The reports in the same positive but also more emphatic tone continue after yesterday’s development, a fact of particular importance, first of all for the upgrading of the country’s role in European events.
Greece’s 42-year-old finance and economy minister, as chairman of the Eurogroup, will chair the meetings (the first with Pierrakakis at the helm will be on December 19), set the agenda, and draw up the long-term work programme.
Apart from these, among his responsibilities and new tasks is to represent the Eurogroup in international forums, such as the Group of Seven (G7) of the world’s richest economies (US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK), as well as the G20.
The change of track makes Pierrakakis a critical European and international “player,”thus he will have the ability to contact leaders from the world’s most powerful countries. As of today, as Eurogroup chairman, he is also “baptized” chairman of the board of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
The Greek Finance Minister will inform the European Parliament, and also the EU member states that do not belong to the Eurozone.
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