The broader geopolitical context of cooperation between Greece and France was outlined by Emmanuel Macron, addressing Kyriacos Mitsotakis and speaking about the prospects for cooperation between the two countries.
From the podium of the Greek-French Business Forum, focusing on developing Europe’s competitiveness in terms of protecting it from international challenges, French President Emmanuel Macron said: “We must strengthen the security of our continent“.
Making specific reference to our country’s economic performance, Emmanuel Macron said: “Greece is a model for economic progress with GDP growth and a reduction in unemployment.” “We as France have restored industrial production. We have a large network of start-ups and we have invested in renewable energy,” Emmanuel Macron stressed. “We have made investments in defence, artificial intelligence, renewable energy,” he said. “But we are not at the level we want – given the circumstances – and we need to build more trust with investors,” Emmanuel Macron noted. He even included this necessity in the need to strengthen the security of Europe. “We must strengthen the security of our continent,” Emmanuel Macron said.
Setting the tone of his position and speaking more about the global status quo, Emmanuel Macron said: “Today, there is a great confrontation between the two superpowers, namely the US and China. There is also a geopolitical confrontation“. “But as France and Greece we have a common strategic vision to strengthen the competitiveness of Europe, which is not confrontational to the great powers,” he said.
“That is why as France we have built the Independent Alliance and at the heart of the Alliance is the IMEC (ed. India Economic Corridor – Middle East – Europe), including India and including development of technology, security, data centers,” Emmanuel Macron underlined. “All this will strengthen Europe,” the French president stressed.
But in the direction of strengthening Europe’s competitiveness at home, Emmanuel Macron said: “To make Europe more competitive, we must protect our strategic sectors.” “To do this we want to simplify the barriers of the internal market,” he added.
He spoke of the need to boost public and private investment. “We need to accelerate public and private investment in Europe and mobilise more capital to improve our own competitiveness,” Emmanuel Macron stressed.
With work underway in Brussels on the multi-year European budget, Emmanuel Macron said: “The European budget must focus on cohesion with investments in energy, digital systems, space and nuclear energy.” “We will push for the European budget to be more ambitious. And Europe must not be dependent on the US or China,” French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his statement.
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