Mytileneos: We stay in Greece, now is the time for reforms

Its president and managing director was categorical Mytileneos K. Evangelos Mytileneos regarding the possibility of transferring the headquarters of the company to a foreign country.

Mr. Mytilineos, speaking to the Circle of Ideas and answering a related question, denied the relevant scenarios.

Dual listing

“It is different to change the stock exchange or move to a dual listing, listing on another stock exchange, as Coca Cola did, and it is another thing to leave our country”, pointed out Mr. Mytilineos in response to a question from the journalist Mr. Kostas Kallitsis.

“This movement should not be misunderstood and both the state and the market players should be happy if the companies based in Greece can prosper on the planet and put the Greek flag wherever possible. No one leaves Greece”, he emphasized and continued: “We do what is good, we pay our taxes here and they are not few at all and we stay here in our country. But spreading our Greek wings and raising a flag elsewhere does not mean that we are leaving Greece and that we do not love our country.”

Reforms

Mr. Mytileneos said he was optimistic about the course of Greece: “I am optimistic about Greece, in general, and I am optimistic about the period we will go through in the coming years”, he said and explained: “We have a unique political stability. We have a prime minister who absolutely controls the government, the state and the party. He has the ability to take any political cost to get them reforms”, noted and recommended:

“If we don’t do it now I don’t know when the opportunity will come. Now is the time”, he characteristically noted and continued: “The painful reforms should be done in 12 to 18 months. If the government enters the second two-year term of the four-year term, then the opinion polls play more of a role than anything else…”.

Wars and markets

He gave his own assessment of the fact that the markets did not decline despite the fact that two wars had developed.

As the president and managing director of the listed company said, “markets move with a different logic in relation to political and geopolitical factors. Markets are trying to see a step beyond the facts. They see an unstable geopolitical scene but what they are focusing on is how the events will develop sooner or later and whether they will affect the economy”, he initially emphasized and continued referring to the war in Ukraine:

“Markets believe that the Ukrainian will freeze for some time. There will be no further expansion of Russian forces and no retreat either. They predict a stagnant situation at least for this winter.”

In relation to the war in the Middle East, Mr. Mytileneos, also explaining the attitude of the markets, argued that “the two major players in the region, Iran and Israel, are not in the mood for further expansion of the war. Markets are hoping that in four weeks there will be no continuation.”

Global economy, USA and Europe

The businessman was also asked about her global economy but also for the policies followed by the USA and the EU.

Referring to American politics, he noted that “despite the fact that the US is facing an internal schism in society, yet both in terms of employment and GDP economic activity, it is holding up.”

He also referred to the upcoming American elections, stating that he is worried by the messages of Trump’s comeback and the messages he sends for the exit of the US from NATO. “I don’t want to think about that possibility. Europe is not at all ready to face such an event. And I don’t want to imagine what could happen in our neighborhood.”

As he argued, “Europe and Germany are the biggest power of the E.U. they had learned to rely for years on cheap Russian gas and free security from across the Atlantic. But this combination is over for us…”, he characteristically commented.

Commenting on the European economic policy, Mr. Mytilineos criticized the fact that “each member state follows its own economic policy. Can the E.U. to have a single monetary policy but not a common economic policy”.

Bulgarian tax on Russian gas

As an example of this contradictory policy within the E.U. brought about Bulgaria’s decision to impose a €10.20/MWh tax on Russian natural gas.

He characterized the way in which the neighboring country acted as a violation of the uniform rules of tariff policy and attributed this decision to purely fiscal reasons.

Green transition

According to Mr. Mytilineos, Bulgaria’s move is also a consequence of the absence of a single energy policy in Europe.

“Europe instead of taking steps forward is taking steps backwards,” he noted and added: “It has raised the flag of the green transition but at the same time we see Germany opening one carbon factory after another. The 15,000 bureaucrats in Brussels have rested… in the green transition, they have found work but they are not facing reality.”