What is the recovery plan of Greece
Of Elisabetta Cornago and John Springford
While Greece managed to avoid a large first wave of coronavirus infections with early lockdown in the spring of 2020, it was hit by two further waves – and two more lockdowns – in November and December 2020 and April 201st. most activities reopened in mid-May 2021.
In 2020, government support for the economy amounted to 23.5 billion. euro. This included the emergency support package for the health sector (such as the recruitment of additional staff and the reduction of VAT on protective equipment) and the provision of assistance to the most severely affected and businesses, respectively through transfers (such as cash benefits and extension benefits). unemployment), and liquidity support (such as loan guarantees and deferral of interest payments).
Despite government support, Greece’s economy shrank by 8.2% by 2020. a level only after mid-2022.
Greece’s recovery plan
Greece writes its recovery plan as a strategic recovery from the coronavirus crisis, and also as an opportunity to change the Greek development model and institutions. For this reason, the plan has many reforms and envisages using both subsidies and loans from the RFF – 18.5 and 12.7 billion respectively. euro- between 2021 and 2026. Investment and reform cover four priorities: the green transition. The digital transformation. Employment, skills and social cohesion. Private investment and the transformation of the economy.
Innovations in energy efficiency are the largest investment -2.7 billion. euro – in the context of the green transition – mainly in residential buildings, but the plan will also include the association of public buildings and will provide incentives for private companies to do the same. It is important that these investments are combined with the development of the Energy Poverty Action Plan, in order to provide financial support for households that are unable to heat their homes (currently at 18% of the population).
Other projects include making water management more efficient by tackling water supply and irrigation, and improving and expanding wastewater treatment. On the climate resilience front, the plan includes investment in consumption, flood mitigation and forest firefighting.
Investment in the electricity sector is focused on expanding storage ($ 450 million) and strengthening the transmission and distribution system to enable greater penetration of intermittent renewable energy. The project will also finance the first storage facility in Greece.
The project spends about 550m euros on electric transport, including the installation of more than 6,600 electric vehicle chargers, as well as support for the electric power industry (such as electric car construction and battery recycling). Road transport contains a significant part of the funds available for the “transformation of the economy”: road safety upgrades and the completion of several 1.3 billion euro interconnected highways. Euros are dedicated to improving the railways.
As with most countries’ plans, digitization investments are significant, with the most generous being € 580 million for the digitization of public sector archives and services, followed by support for digital upgrades in SMEs (€ 375 million). .euros) and in schools. Digital infrastructure -5G, broadband connection, submarine cables- receive 320 million euros. The government will provide tax credits to SMEs investing in digital technology and equipment to adapt to climate change and the circular economy.
In terms of employment, skills and social cohesion, much of the project is devoted to structural reforms. This includes € 640 million for labor policy reform, including an improvement in unemployment benefit coverage and distribution, as well as companies seeking employment programs for the unemployed. More than 1 billion euros are available in a new strategy for lifelong learning. Healthcare contains about 1.5 billion. which includes upgrades to hospital infrastructure and investment in public health prevention programs, as well as reforms in primary education and the introduction of a home care system. Some of the more ambitious reforms are aimed at making the judiciary and public administration more efficient, and boosting tax collection.
You can view the text here: https://www.cer.eu/publications/archive/policy-brief/2021/why-eus-recovery-fund-should-be-permanent-country-report-3