Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou visits the EIB

From left to right: Vice President Mr. Plutarchos Sakellaris, the EIB's President Mr. Philippe Maystadt and Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou chatting

On the occasion of the Ecofin, the Hellenic Republic's Minister of Finance and new Governor of the European Investment Bank, Mr. George Papaconstantinou, visited the EIB's headquarters in Luxembourg on the 20 of October. The Minister was received by the EIB's President Mr. Philippe Maystadt, Vice President Mr. Plutarchos Sakellaris, responsible fo financing operations in Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, ACP States and South Africa. He also took advantage of his visit to chat with managers and Greek staff members of the Bank.

The EIB is the financing arm of the European Union and provides medium and long-term loans in pursuit of the integration and development objectives laid down by the Community institutions. The EIB’s shareholders are the 27 member countries of the European Union.

Mr George Papaconstantinou has been appointed Minister of Finance of the Hellenic Republic following the Greek general elections of 4 October 2009 and thus also becomes EIB Governor for the Hellenic Republic, succeeding Mr Ioannis Papathanasiou. From 1988 to 1998, he worked as a senior economist at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. Since 1998, he has held several high-level positions in the Ministry of Economy and Finance.