On Wednesday afternoon, Greek PM Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with senior executives of the YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization). The event was attended by about 1,000 CEOs and business leaders in more than 100 countries around the world. The subject of the meeting was Greece’s success in managing the COVID-19 pandemic and the next steps for the recovery of the Greek economy.
The Prime Minister answered questions from the participants on Greece’s investment prospects, stressing that the fundamental advantages built up by the Government reform policy remain unaffected, and are now complemented by international recognition of the country’s effective response to the global pandemic.
“Greece is even more suitable for investment than it was five months ago,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis claimed, adding that the Government’s strategy from the beginning was to upgrade the investment environment to maximise Greece’s advantages. “I was elected 10 months ago on a platform of making changes, focusing heavily on attracting foreign and domestic private investment, to make Greece a country able to exploit its comparative advantages and which facilitates investments by international investors,” he stated.
“We have come a long way in this direction; we have reduced taxes, we have improved the regulatory framework, the digitalisation of public administration has progressed – something that many thought impossible. And now we have the added advantage that we are considered a safe country with a well-functioning public administration,” the Prime Minister added.
On YPO’s part, the president of the international business organisation Tasos Oikonomou and the head of the Greek branch Theofilos Vassiliadis participated in the dialogue. Mr Oikonomou, speaking on behalf of an organisation that has 30,000 members in 130 countries (with a turnover of $9 trillion and more than 22 million employees), stressed the great interest that many YPO members have already expressed in visiting and investing in Greece, which appears stronger after Greece’s handling of this period of global crisis.
Reiterating his stance on the anti-pandemic crackdown, the Prime Minister claimed he was in favour of an effective state that protects the economy when needed, without undermining the productive functioning of the private sector.
“I am a liberal politician, I am not a neoliberal. I don’t think markets always have the solution. I believe that the State has a role to play, especially in times of crisis. And that’s exactly what we did. We intervened to deal with an unprecedented crisis. We supported the Public Health System,” he said. Kyriakos Mitsotakis added that his priority is the need to support entrepreneurship so that businesses may cope with the sudden blow by the Coronavirus.
“Of course, there are times when the Government has to spend to get out of a deep recession. These are times that favour a more Keynesian approach. This does not mean that I no longer maintain that growth is consistently driven by the private economy. My main concern is to save jobs and provide businesses with more leeway, so that they may grow again in the future. And I think the real challenge, as always in these cases, is to determine the fair share of the burden.”
“The Franco-German proposal is a big step in the right direction,” he said.
As for Europe’s crucial role, the Prime Minister welcomed the Franco-German proposal to set up a 500 billion euro recovery fund, and called on Europe to stand up to the circumstances.
“The Franco-German plan was bold and certainly a big step in the right direction. Five hundred billion in grants is a significant amount, to be funded by a common debt instrument issued by the European Commission. That is important,” he said.
He also noted that the offer of grants to affected countries and regions will work in a balanced way for the large support already provided by wealthier member states to their large enterprises, which cannot be returned on the part of smaller member states to their own enterprises.
“Currently, state aid in some countries is enormous, and other countries cannot compete; at least their businesses cannot,” he stated. “The only way to bring about a balance is a transfer in the form of grants. Otherwise, if this is not done, you will see enlarged regional and geographical disparities.”
By effectively addressing the challenges posed by the Coronavirus crisis, a united Europe will not give political ground to populists and Eurosceptics, the Prime Minister added. In this regard, he recalled the experience of Greece, which was the first to elect and ultimately reject populists, giving the current Government an absolute parliamentary majority and the political stability required to cultivate an attractive investment climate for the next three years.
Stereotypes about Greece have collapsed
“The health crisis, however,” Mr. Mitsotakis added, “not only brought changes in the lives of citizens, but also in their relationship with the State.” This gave our country the opportunity to break down stereotypes about the supposed weaknesses of the Greek people and to continue building a new image for the country, which highlights its virtues.
“This crisis has also been a catalyst for the establishment of a new relationship of trust between the State and the Greek people,” he asserted, and added that, while there used to be widespread scepticism on the ability of the State to perform essential functions in the past, this image has now been reversed. “Now, for the first time, people saw a State that performed, and probably did so much better than other, better-organised countries.”
“There were many stereotypes about Greece, which we proved wrong: That we are very selfish, that we cannot cooperate with each other, that the State is completely ineffective,” the Prime Minister stressed, adding that these have now been refuted.
