Speaking at the Les Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence—an annual economic forum organized by Le Cercle des Économistes in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence—Greek Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierakakis stressed the urgent need for a fundamental shift in mindset across Europe and the full completion of the single market in all strategic sectors.
“The Era of Geopolitical Innocence Is Over”
Pierakakis opened with a stark assessment: “If I had to summarize Europe’s situation in one phrase, I would say the era of geopolitical innocence is over—not only because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but due to a much deeper transformation in the framework through which we understand global realities.”
He highlighted a second major shift: how Europe must rethink the use of its policy tools. To illustrate, he recounted an anecdote from his first Eurogroup meeting as chair in January: outside the room, discussions centered on Greenland; inside, ministers faced the task of electing a new Vice-President of the European Central Bank (ECB) amid six candidates—a process traditionally expected to drag on for months.
“My colleagues told me it could take four, five, or even six months,” Pierakakis recalled. “But we decided that if we cannot elect an ECB Vice-President at a moment when we’re called upon to defend European sovereignty—including Greenland’s sovereignty and broader territorial integrity—the optics would be deeply damaging. So we completed the election in just two and a half hours. That was a clear demonstration of political will for change.”
The ‘Obvious Divide’ and Unfinished Business
The minister pointed to what he called “the divide of the obvious”: widespread awareness of longstanding gaps in European integration. “We know full well we haven’t completed the Capital Markets Union, the Banking Union, or the Energy Union. We also know we lack a coherent technological doctrine.”
He emphasized that technology—beyond today’s AI debate—will drive successive waves of disruption, demanding a comprehensive, forward-looking strategy. “Technology will change everything. And because it will keep evolving—AI today, then quantum computing, then biotech, then something else—we need a holistic doctrine and a unified strategy to strengthen the capabilities underpinning our sovereignty.”
Sovereignty ≠ Autonomy
Pierakakis warned against conflating sovereignty with autonomy. “The mistake is to treat sovereignty as synonymous with autonomy. Autonomy is just one dimension of sovereignty. Sovereignty can be exercised in many ways—and Europe itself has proven this. It can be exercised through regulation, through standard-setting, through industrial champions, through collective action.”