Greece net recipient of over €56 bln from EU resources
European funds to come in the period up to 2027
Greece’s net takings from the European Union for the next seven years will come to 56.4 billion euros, which amounts to 4% of gross domestic product, Finance Minister Christos Staikouras revealed on Monday in Parliament.
He explained that for each euro the country contributes toward the European budget it will collect €4.6 through the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 and the Next Generation EU fund. In the previous subsidy period (2014-2020) the ratio was 1:2.9, he added.
It is the recovery fund for the pandemic that has changed this ratio, to Greece’s benefit, even though the country’s contribution to the bloc will be increased, based on the bill discussed in Parliament.
Staikouras explained that the national contribution to the EU budget is projected to total €15.5 billion throughout the seven-year period, which amounts to 1.1% of GDP. Athens stands to receive a total amount of €71.9 billion in European support resources, which is €39.9 billion from the subsidy framework and €32 billion from the recovery fund. This will lead to a net fiscal benefit of €56.4 billion.
The bill ratifies the decision of December 14, 2020, concerning the increase in the country’s maximum contributions, including an extraordinary increase in the limits in order for the EU to cover the obligations stemming from the Next Generation EU fund. The bill further provides for the introduction of a new environmental levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste, at 0.80 euros per kilogram. With the new mode of calculation, the finance minister said, Greece will benefit to the tune of €33 million per year.
Meanwhile Staikouras told Thema 104.6 FM radio on Monday that the government’s baseline scenario provides for the economy to resume operating at some degree of normalcy as of March 22. He did add, however, that there also are some alternative scenarios and that “we shall be here for society for as long as it takes. However, the longer that this situation is extended, the more our capacity for the greatest possible coverage of losses will be reduced,” he stated.
