French Prime Minister Expresses Support for Greece

France is interested in investing in Greece in areas of energy, transportation and tourism

The Wall Street Journal

By NEKTARIA STAMOULI
June 3, 2016 11:52 a.m. ET
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ATHENS—French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Friday expressed his country’s interest in investing in Greece and promised the crisis-battered country more support with reforms needed to overcome the financial crisis, as well as help in dealing with the refugee crisis.

“A eurozone without Greece, a Schengen Treaty without Greece, represents another view of Europe that we do not share,” Mr. Valls said during a press conference with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras.
He said he was confident the next bailout funds for Greece would be disbursed soon and added that he hoped a solution for Greece’s debt problems would be found.



Last week, eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund struck a deal that temporarily put aside their differences over how to manage Greece’s debt burden.

The Greek parliament on Thursday approved a number of fiscal adjustments required for the disbursement of the next bailout tranche of some €7.5 billion ($8.39 billion).

The country needs its bailout funding by mid-July at the latest, when it must repay hefty debts, including bonds held by the ECB.

Mr. Valls has put off a visit to Canada scheduled for later in June because of the protests over labor reform in France, but he kept his trip to Athens on his agenda.

France was one of the European countries most supportive of Mr. Tsipras during last year’s tense negotiations between Greece and its international creditors.

“The French government supported Greece in very difficult times last summer, and that is something we must all recognize,” the Greek premier said.

During his two-day visit to Athens, the French Prime Minister was accompanied by Finance Minister Michel Sapin and State Minister for European Affairs Harlem Desir.

The French premier called on his country’s businessmen to “come to invest in Greece” and said there is interest in the fields of energy, transportation and tourism.

According to Greek officials, France is interested in taking part in the privatization of Greek rail assets and acquiring a stake in Greek water utility companies.

Mr. Valls also said his country is ready to help Greece in its efforts to tackle the migration crisis.

He noted that France has already contributed about a third of some 1,350 border guards and other staff working to curb migration into Greece and added that France is prepared to dispatch even more. He also promised that France is willing to take in more migrants stranded on Greek soil since their route into Northern Europe was closed.

France said it would take 400 refugees every month from those who are stuck on the Greek mainland as part of the EU’s relocation program that was launched in 2015 and has seen less than 2,000 resettled up to now.

Write to Nektaria Stamouli at nektaria.stamouli@wsj.com