Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos met today with the outgoing Governor of the Bank of Greece, Georgios Provopoulos. Following their farewell meeting, Messrs. Venizelos and Provopoulos made the following statements:
E. VENIZELOS: Mr. Provopoulos formally left the administration of the Bank of Greece yesterday, thus closing an historic circle of great importance, because his term at the Central Bank coincided with a deep, major crisis that necessitated, in reality, the reorganization not only of the economy, but of the whole country. But for us to reach this new phase, the country had to be saved, kept on its feet. And Mr. Provopoulos’s contribution to saving the Greek economy, the deposits of Greek citizens, the potential for Greek enterprises to borrow, grow, invest, and create new jobs is huge. Greek society has yet to realize the nature of this period. We must continue in the same direction, completing and finalizing our exit from the crisis in security and stability, but we can only do this knowing what has happened and, with a sense of justice, giving each his due, according to his contribution to this great effort.
Mr. Governor, I wish you success in the new stage of your career.
G. PROVOPOULOS: Thank you very much. I came to say goodbye to the Deputy Prime Minister and, of course, to brief him on the latest developments, given that I was in Frankfurt yesterday, participating for the last time in the Council of the European Central Bank. And, of course, since it was also a farewell meeting, we had the opportunity to look back on the difficult moments for our country – extremely difficult moments at which we handled very difficult issues together – and to say that the country, at various turning points, managed to be saved and arrive, today, at a state of affairs that is completely different and gives rise to some optimism that we can pull out of this rut, move ahead, and see a better tomorrow.
Thank you.
June 20, 2014