The Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises approved by majority vote the renewal of Yannis Stournaras’ third term as head of the Bank of Greece.
New Democracy MPs voted in favor of the central banker’s reappointment. PASOK voted “present,” although its rapporteur Paris Koukoulopoulos assessed Stournaras’ overall performance positively, as did the Communist Party.
SYRIZA, Greek Solution, New Left, NIKI, and Course of Freedom voted against the renewal of Stournaras’ term.
Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis took aim at PASOK, saying its “present” vote reflected “the party’s political awkwardness” and “not the governor’s value.”
For his part, Stournaras responded to criticism from parties that opposed his renewal, saying that if he were not independent, he would not be standing before the committee.
“I have privileged relations with no one, I never had sponsors, I reached this point through my own efforts. I have no dependencies. I am clean, and I succeeded during a difficult period when everything was collapsing. Let us not forget where we were in 2015 and where we are today. Greece is considered a major success story — absolutely a success story,” he stressed.
Stournaras: No room for complacency in the economy
In his opening remarks, the central banker warned that risks to the global and European economy have intensified in the current period. As a result, the strong growth momentum of the Greek economy may ease in 2026, although prospects remain positive.
“The progress is significant. However, complacency is not allowed. The Greek economy continues to face critical challenges,” he said, highlighting persistent inflation and low productivity compared to the eurozone.
Pierrakakis: Stournaras was never a “convenient” central banker
Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis noted that Stournaras was present during the most critical moments of Greece’s modern economic history and was never “a convenient central banker,” because “he spoke when necessary, even at political cost — and that is the true meaning of institutional independence and credibility.”
With the renewal of his term, Stournaras becomes the first governor of the Bank of Greece to serve three consecutive terms. Pierrakakis noted that only Xenophon Zolotas had previously served a similar total length of time, though not consecutively.
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