Greek PM outlines roadmap for Greece 2.0
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis Wednesday presented the key principles of the so-called National Recovery and Resilience Plan for the day after the coronavirus pandemic.
Mitsotakis said the plan – dubbed Greece 2.0 – consists of 170 projects, investments and reforms. It will mobilize 57 billion euros and is expected to add up to seven percentage points to GDP on a six-year horizon, on top of the natural growth rate of Greece’s economy, and create 200,000 jobs, he said.
Mitsotakis said the blueprint aims to bring about a “paradigm shift around a more outward-looking economy and a growth-inducing tax system.”
The energy upgrade of Greece’s building stock (mainly via the “Exoikonomo” program of state subsidies), the modernization of professional education and training, the digital transformation of the state and private investment will absorb the bulk of the plan’s budget.
It includes projects that shift Greece into the digital era, such as the fifth generation (5G) mobile networks on highways and the digital interconnection of islands, as well as urban facelifts such as those at Elaionas and Tatoi in Attica, as well as projects that have long been anticipated, such as the digitalization of the state’s archives, and have now secured the necessary financing.
The construction of highways has been left out of the blueprint, with the exception of the highway across northern Crete and the E65 highway in central Greece.
The plan, which was approved by the cabinet Monday, will be debated in Parliament and is expected to be submitted to the European Commission mid April.
National plans will be financed by the Eureopan Union from a 750 billion euro recovery fund that will be jointly borrowed and repaid by the whole 27-nation bloc.
