Athens hosted Euro meet of industrialists

Forty-three of Europe’s most significant chief executive officers spent just over 24 hours in Athens last week: In total secrecy, they met with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, then held a meeting among themselves and left as quietly as they had come.

These leading figures from 43 European multinational enterprises are all members of the European Round Table of Industrialists. Their visit was in the context of the organization’s congregation, which usually takes place twice a year, each time in a different country. The agenda contains their main objectives: strengthening competitiveness, growth and employment across Europe.

They did not come to Athens in order to channel any particular investment of domestic interest; they just chose it for their regular get-together. However, their presence in the Greek capital and their two – separate – meetings with Tsipras and Mitsotakis were in any case an excellent opportunity for Greece to illustrate whether and how it may attract investments.

It is noted that the combined annual sales volume of the groups managed by those 43 chief executives exceed 2.2 trillion euros.