Dombrovskis says reforms are the answer to the crisis in the Middle East

Brussels – While short-term measures, such as support for businesses and households against rising energy prices, are welcome, the adverse economic climate must be addressed through reforms. The Commissioner for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, is once again calling on the governments of the European Union’s Member States to do their homework amid uncertainties arising from the US war in Iran and the Israeli conflict in Lebanon.  “The conflict in the Middle East is casting a shadow” over the global economic landscape and growth in the eurozone, and “the response to this, in addition to immediate measures, is to continue the work needed to make our economies more resilient,” he emphasized during his visit to Athens. Translated: reforms.

Furthermore, the imperative to pay close attention to the “quality of public spending” remains. Dombrovskis’s emphasis seems to amount to a fresh ‘no’ to those calling for a suspension of the common budgetary rules, starting with Italy. Spend less, but spend better: this is the mantra now repeatedly heard in Brussels, with the Economy Commissioner once again reiterating it.

The announcement of the green light for Greece’s payment request under the NextGeneration EU post-pandemic recovery program, and the endorsement of Greece’s national recovery plan, also provides Dombrovskis with an opportunity to hold up this path as a model to follow: “We must follow Greece’s example and the reforms carried out in recent years, which have turned it into a dynamic economy, with growth on the rise, and debt falling,” states the Commissioner for the Economy. 

Words that on the one hand confirm Greece’s economic trajectory, a country truly experiencing steady and sustained growth (GDP at +5.5 percent in 2022, followed by an average annual growth rate of 2 percent), and a public debt that is continuously declining, falling from 177.8 percent of GDP in 2022 to 146.1 percent in 2025, with a further drop to 138 percent expected by 2027. Undoubtedly, a remarkable and noteworthy path, which is suggested as a model for those who need to restructure their economies. Here too, a veiled message for the government in Rome.