Gov’t seeks private investment
The government will seek the support of private investments, besides those from the public coffers, for the subsidy program it will submit to the European Commission in the context of the Next Generation EU fund.
Sources involved in the planning say that since one of the main objectives of the new European Union fund is to support long-term growth, investments are obviously eligible and should not be restricted to the state sector. Greece has the additional argument that in recent years it has faced a huge investment gap, as Commission reports also acknowledge. Government officials add that private investments have a smaller bureaucratic burden and could be fostered quicker than public ones.
The form of private investment support has not been determined yet, but ideas on the table include the acceleration of amortizations, a measure that was among the current government’s election pledges.
The resources could also be used to finance the digital infrastructure of enterprises, combining this Commission objective regarding the digital transition. Another possibility could be granting tax incentives for research and development, a sector where Greece seriously lags its EU peers.
