Keravnos-EESC Employers’ Group President discuss need to deepen capital markets

Finance Minister Makis Keravnos met with the President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) Employers’ Group, Stefano Mallia, and discussed the need to accelerate efforts to deepen capital markets in the EU and to intensify efforts to reduce the administrative burden.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Finance, Keravnos had a meeting with Mallia at the Ministry of Finance on 3 June, during the EESC President's visit to Cyprus.

During the meeting, there was an exchange of views on the priorities within the scope of the Ecofin Council, ahead of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2026.

In this context, the Minister of Finance and the President of the EESC Employers’ Group, “agreed that it is important to intensify efforts to reduce the administrative burden and the obligation to submit reports, as they currently arise from European legislation, in order to improve the competitiveness of businesses in the EU, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups,” it said.

They also discussed the need to accelerate efforts to deepen capital markets in the EU, to improve the conditions for access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises, it adds. To achieve these objectives, it was agreed that there should be close cooperation both before and during the Cyprus Presidency, according to the announcement.

The announcement also notes that the EESC is an EU advisory body, which is composed of representatives of employers’ and workers’ organisations, as well as other interest groups, such as farmers and consumers, and acts as a bridge between the EU’s decision-making bodies and its citizens, giving opinions, among other things, on EU legislative proposals. Mallia was accompanied to the meeting by the Director General of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation, Michalis Antoniou, and the Honourary President of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Manthos Mavrommatis, as members of the EESC’s Employers’ Group.

(Source: CNA)