EU Commissioner Cretu to visit Greece on October 5-8

“Only a strong relationship between the European Commission and the Greek authorities will help us to fully exploit the potential of cohesion policies in terms of growth and job creation. My visit to Greece from 5 to 8 October, will particularly focus on the joint efforts of the Commission and the Greek authorities to open the way for a future of prosperity in the country,” Cretu said, adding she will visit projects that have received EU funds in Crete.

Her schedule during her visit is as follows (all times are local):

-Monday: Meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at noon at Maximos Mansion, with Economy, Development and Tourism Minister Giorgos Stathakis and Deputy Minister for NSRF Issues, Alexis Charitsis, at 15.00 and with Alternate Minister for Environment Yiannis Tsironis at 16.30.

-Tuesday: Meeting with Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Minister Christos Spirtzis at 10.30, after which Cretu will fly to Heraklion, Crete, where she will meet in the evening with the island’s Prefect Stavros Arnaoutakis.

-Wednesday: The Commissioner will visit the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), where she will meet with Alternate Minister for Reasearch and Innovation, Costas Fotakis. Later, she will present a contribution to the Working Group Meeting of Experts on Research, Innovation and Policy Research on the "impact of smart specialization strategies in excellence clusters and regional development within the RIS Commission of the EU”. In the afternoon, Cretu will be the keynote speaker in a regional conference on “Investments for Regional Development: National Strategic Reference Framework and the Juncker Investment Plan.”

-Thursday: Cretu will visit projects in the area of Heraklion funded by the EU, accompanied by Crete’s Prefect.