Can money appear out of thin air? Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis says he can make it appear from the airwaves.

Pierrakakis, who chairs the Eurogroup, the informal gathering of finance ministers from countries that use the euro, is floating a potentially bold new way to raise money for the EU: redirecting lucrative proceeds from national spectrum auctions to Brussels just as debate heats up over the bloc’s seven-year budget.

“It’s telecom policy à la Draghi,” he said in an interview, invoking the former Italian prime minister’s blueprint for reversing Europe’s economic decline, which called for greater coordination and harmonization in how national governments license the frequencies that power mobile networks. Such an arrangement would also have the benefit of encouraging more European buildout of crucial bloc-wide technology.

Europe’s telecom operators currently face a patchwork of national procedures to secure access to this coveted and critical asset, including auctions whose proceeds flow into national budgets. Since 2020, operators have spent more than €50 billion on spectrum licenses, according to trade association Connect Europe. The process has long been criticized for squeezing operators for cash rather than encouraging investment, with former EU Commissioner Thierry Breton once disparaging spectrum as a government “cash cow.”

Pierrakakis — also the Greek finance minister — called for Europe to build on what he described as its “most innovative auction,” referring to Greece’s plan in 2020 to reserve 25 percent of spectrum-auction revenues for a new venture capital fund investing in the growing 5G ecosystem.

The Eurogroup boss envisions allocating 75 percent of the auction proceeds to the Multiannual Financial Framework, the EU’s long-term spending plan, and 25 percent channeled through an endowed European Investment Bank fund. With such a fund, he argued, “you would end up with a much larger amount in the hands of Europe overall.”

The outside-the-box proposal could give negotiators a fresh source of EU-level revenue — known in Brussels jargon as an “own resource” — as Europe remains divided over the bloc’s €2 trillion budget between the so-called frugal countries that want to limit spending and those that want to maintain current levels.

Pierrakakis said he also wanted to link this “non-zero sum” idea to the push to boost European industrial champions and reduce the bloc’s dependence on U.S. technology.

But the proposal may land with a thud among EU capitals, which have long resisted reform in this area and bristled at Brussels encroaching on a national competence — and a source of budget revenue.

“This idea has layers. There is a very visible layer, which is simply synchronizing the auctions,” Pierrakakis said, arguing that reducing fragmentation and moving closer to a single market would already be a big win. “The value for our champions and for our telecom operators is self-evident, before we go into the revenue discussion.”

He argued that a new paradigm is emerging in the wake of recommendations over the past years since the reports on European competitiveness from Draghi and fellow former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta.

Specifically, he cited the Capital Markets Union, the EU’s long-running project to create a single market for investment and finance, which has recently gained traction.

Still, even by his own admission, Pierrakakis’ idea of the new allocation of airwave revenue will be a tough sell.

“I don’t think it would win broad support,” a national government official said, granting anonymity to discuss an informal proposal. The official noted that countries would be reluctant to give up the revenue, and are likely to resist any attempt by the European Commission to secure a bigger role in spectrum coordination through the Digital Networks Act, which is currently under negotiation. “In general, letting the Commission collect spectrum fees is not something member states like,” echoed a second official from another government.

The lead negotiator for the proposal in the European Parliament, centrist Polish MEP Michał Kobosko, previously said in an interview that he didn’t want to stick to the “status quo that the government is taking this huge money from the operators and then nobody has any say in how the money is being used.”

Pierrakakis voiced hope that his idea could feed into negotiations over the EU’s 2028-2034 budget and the broader debate over European competitiveness. He said “many” of his colleagues have already “endorsed the core philosophy of the idea.”

“We need to go into a more detailed and thorough phase where we need a concrete impact study, steps, et cetera, to further discuss this.”

This article was updated to clarify Kyriakos Pierrakakis was elected Eurogroup president for a mandate of two and a half years.

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