Brussels, 18/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Dealing with public finance, recapitalising banks and introducing structural reforms - this is the new three-pronged strategy for economic growth in Greece unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday 18 April. “The set of priority actions it proposes range from promoting youth employment to tax reform, and investing in education to smarter regulation. These actions, if properly implemented, should quickly unblock growth, create jobs and mitigate the social impact of the crisis”, said the Commission president, José Manuel Durão Barroso, during a debate at the European Parliament.
The European Commission president said: “The European Union is helping Greece in financial and practical terms. EU funding for the period 2007-2013 amounts to €40 billion. The debt write-down of the private sector is €100 billion and financial assistance from the EU and international partners amounts to €240 billion. This equates to €33,600 per Greek inhabitant. Or 177% of Greek GDP”, comparing the cash with the Marshall Plan after World War Two that provided aid of 2% of GDP to European countries.
The Commission communication provides detail of how EU funds will be used to provide loans and guarantees for SMEs in Greece (€4 billion is available). It describes measures to facilitate and promote exports, simplify the regulatory environment, prepare state owned companies for privatisation and modernise sectors like energy and transport.
The Commission also provides details of work by the Taskforce that it has sent to Greece to provide technical assistance in several areas. European and national civil servants are working to improve tax collection from richer Greeks and are helping all levels of the Greek civil service to boost their capacities by, for example, making faster use of the EU Structural Funds. They are also carrying out closer monitoring of healthcare spending - Greeks take more medicines that virtually any other nation in the world. (MB/transl.fl)