“To make the Savings and Investment Union meaningful, not only are regulations or institutional changes needed, but also a change of mindset to accelerate cross-border mergers and acquisitions and create European “champions”. Euronext is one of Europe’s success stories, and we are very proud that Athens will become part of this network.”

This was stressed by the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, in a discussion with Euronext CEO, Stephane Boujnah, at the Morgan Stanley investment roadshow in London.

“We strongly believe that Euronext’s acquisition of the Greek stock exchange is strategic and iconic. We have always felt that it will provide access to a wider pool of liquidity,” the minister said.

“The acquisition will act as a catalyst for the growth of Greek businesses, both larger and small and medium-sized, and will allow the Greek economy in many ways and on multiple levels to become stronger and more resilient as we move forward,” he explained.

The removal of barriers to the single market will be a catalyst for growth

The need to remove barriers between EU member states was, among other things, mentioned by Pierrakakis, stressing that this removal will be a catalyst for growth.

“Greece’s collective trauma from the crisis has been transformed into a policy change. Fiscal discipline, at this moment, for Greece, I would say it is an acquisition that concerns a whole generation. The prime minister said at the conference that he does not intend to pass the bill on to the next generation. None of us intends to pass the bill on to the next generation,” the minister said.

“Fiscal discipline for us is an engine of growth,” Pierrakakis clarified, stressing that the next step in unleashing the country’s growth forces is through the EU and is none other than the completion of the Savings and Investment Union.

“I would say that, perhaps, it will be the biggest missed opportunity of our generation in Europe if we fail to realise it. And the failure to realise it is due, to a certain extent, to national sensitivities. We all agree, but we all proceed with national asterisks. We all express our points of concern.”

Pierrakakis referred to the need for the European Union to move immediately to actions that support the vision of the Savings and Investment Union, citing the example of Greece. “Euronext for us is the ultimate step in this direction.”

“In Europe, instead of thinking about where to focus, we need to focus on our ‘champions’. We should focus on the areas where we are close to the technological cutting edge. We should remove the barriers to this market. Exercise industrial policy in that market.”

Stephane Boujnah: The integration of HA with the Euronext single market is a natural progression

“Today, ten years later, all the countries that were once called PIGS are borrowing cheaper than France and the UK,” said Euronext CEO Stephane Boujnah.

He said the integration of the Greek capital market into Euronext’s single market, and the entire ecosystem around it, was a natural progression in a country that produces more than it can absorb.

“What we are trying to do is to correct a major anomaly,” he added. “There was something obsolete in Greece: markets were too isolated.

And just as Greece produces far more financial talent than it can absorb, there was this paradox: that a great company, with great people, that has made such an impressive recovery, remained isolated.”

In the same vein as the Minister, Mr Boujnah stressed that “the recipe for success for anything we want to achieve in Europe can be summed up in two words: Scale and speed. What we are trying to do with Kyriakos Pierrakakis is to solve the problem of speed. What we need now is to achieve scale.”

Today, Euronext’s single European market reaches €6.5 trillion in total market capitalisation, more than twice the size of the London market, according to Mr Boujnah.

“What we will do is to put the Greek capital markets, and the whole ecosystem around them, into this framework,” the Euronext CEO concluded.