Red carpet rather than red tape
Quite a lot has been said, written and announced over the past few weeks about the possibility of big foreign investors putting their money into Greece. The speculation has been fueled primarily by the visit to Athens today of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as well as by Qatar’s interest in investing money in the development of various projects in this country. But regardless of any of the pleasant-sounding statements coming from Socialist government officials and affiliated commentators, no sober investor will ever think seriously of investing any considerable sum of money in the country unless Greece first changes the mentality of the public sector and the manner in which the state deals with foreign investments. Until the day this happens, large foreign investors will merely add their names to the long list of frustrated entrepreneurs based in Greece and abroad who have for years on end tried to free billions of investments from the shackles of red tape.
