Athens lies last in EU as a business center
The Athens transport network has improved considerably in recent years, but it seems that there is much left to be done before the Greek capital obtains the features of a modern business center, at least for Southeastern Europe, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The international firm in its annual survey of high-level officials from 500 European enterprises shows that Athens lies last among the 33 European cities featured after sliding one spot from last year. «Athens has lost one place compared with last year’s classification due to stagnation in the factors analyzed by the survey as well as the entry of three new cities. The latter come from Southeastern Europe and the Balkans, which due to their recent entry to the European Union have become a new attraction. These markets are seeing rapid changes and development,» says Niki Symboura, head of the Greek bureau of Cushman & Wakefield. Athens scores badly in many key categories, such as the supply of specialized personnel, occupying the 32nd spot, accessibility to markets (27th), quality of telecommunications (26th) and the transport network (28th). European businesspeople are not very happy either about the government climate (25th spot), the availability of office space (23rd) and the languages used by Greeks (31st). The internal transport network in Athens is last (33rd) in Europe while the quality of life for employees (26th) and the clean environment (30th) also score low. The only good news comes for Athens’s cost of employing staff (6th) and in the quality-price ratio for office space (19th).
