Kyriakos Pierrakakis does not rule out the possibility of additional measures in the event that the energy crisis escalates due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking at the 11th Delphi Economic Forum on Friday, the Greek Finance Minister and Eurogroup president said that although there is currently no plan to announce a new package of interventions, if the situation worsens the country has the necessary ammunition to support additional measures, within the fiscal rules.
“But we are not there yet. I make it absolutely clear,” he rushed to add, recalling that certain measures had been announced just two days earlier.
At European level, Pierrakakis drew a parallel with what had happened in the energy crisis of 2022: “Many of the measures we implemented did not work and had the opposite effect. Now we know this and that is why we have defined a framework,” he pointed out. “With the figures we have to date,” he continued, “it makes no sense to do anything more, because it would be counterproductive.”
However, he clarified that Europe is in a much better position than it was in 2022, as there is a diversified energy mix.
For his part, Valdis Dombrovskis, European Economy Commissioner, acknowledged that the conflict in the Middle East has negative impacts, estimated at 0.2 to 0.6 percentage points for the European economy. At the same time, citing scenarios under consideration, he estimated an increase in inflation by more than one percentage point, warning of the phenomenon of stagflation. However, he reserved the right to update the economic forecasts in the second half of May, when “we know better what exactly is happening.”
Asked about the main problem of the crisis, he said the principal worry does not concern the availability of energy, but the price of energy: “We are currently coordinating the release of oil reserves, in order to maximize the positive impact on the market,” he said.