Greece supports the strengthening of the European Union's strategic autonomy, National Economy & Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said at the informal ECOFIN meeting in Warsaw on Saturday.

Pierrakakis was in Warsaw to attend the informal meetings of the Eurogroup on Friday and the ECOFIN on Saturday.

The discussion at the ECOFIN focused on funding for a European defense and security, as laid out in a report by Bruegel, the European think tank in Brussels.

"Greece has always been supportive of strengthening the European Union's strategic autonomy," Pierrakakis said, adding that "for Greece, defense is of existential importance."

The minister welcomed the activation of the national escape clause in the framework of the European Commission's rules on fiscal governance, and underlined that every country in the EU should be able to select what to invest in in defense, in conjunction with its national interests. This, he said, would also benefit the common European defense policy.

He added that Greece has been openly supportive of formulating a single European market for defense goods and services, which would boost significantly the European competitiveness and economy. At the same time, it is vital that the unified market guarantees a balanced participation of all EU member-states in defense procurements programs, regardless of size, especially of small and medium-sized enterprises.

On the sidelines of both Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings, Pierrakakis met bilaterally with the finance ministers of Poland, Andrzej Domański, acting president of ECOFIN; Germany, Jörg Kukies; and France, Eric Lombard.