ATHENS, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Visiting French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire commended Greece on Tuesday for its recovery from a deep 10-year economic crisis, calling for further growth-boosting policies in the eurozone.
"Greece is clearly on the right path and that is good news for everybody," Le Maire said here at a joint press conference with Greek Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras, following their meeting.
He pointed to lower borrowing costs and stronger growth rates for Greece lately, stressing that the entire eurozone needs to agree on a strategy to increase growth rates.
"We need more growth within the eurozone and we cannot be satisfied with the current situation where we have an average level of growth of about one percent, 1.1 percent, 1.2 percent. That is not enough for the eurozone. Lack of growth means lack of investments, lack of innovation, lack of prosperity for all citizens," he stressed.
Le Maire also voiced support for Greece's request to be allowed to use the European Central Bank's profits from Greek bonds (known as SMP-ANFA profits) in investments to create more fiscal space in order to support further growth.
In the past, the Eurogroup had decided to use these earnings for the repayment of part of the Greek national debt.
Le Maire also supported a request by Athens that the cost of dealing with the refugee and migration challenge be calculated in the fiscal result, because Greece is hit harder than other European countries.
Greece is demanding that additional expenditure of around 280 million euros (303.4 million U.S. dollars) for dealing with refugees and migrants be factored into the calculation of the annual primary surplus, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
Staikouras also called for stronger cooperation among the European Union (EU) member states to tackle common challenges.
"Our common response should be a stronger, more competitive, more efficient Europe, with stronger solidarity, better coordination in the economy, more focus on investments and adequate tools and sources to deal with inequalities, with precise rules of economic governance to achieve high and sustainable growth," he said.
The two ministers also discussed ways to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation.
