Kostas Karamanlis: The railway projects put Greece on the tracks of…
He points out the importance of public projects in the development of the Economy in 2023 in his interview with TheTOC the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Kostas Karamanlis. Emphasizing that in a difficult international environment, the Mitsotakis government has implemented a comprehensive project program, totaling more than 13 billion. euro.
Major infrastructure projects, he underlines, mark extensive leverage of funds, broad mobilization of resources, absorption of national and European funds, new and well-paid jobs. They create a whole series of value. And they are the most critical prerequisite to develop in every aspect of economic activity: In industry, the primary sector, tourism, exports, extroversion.
Costas Karamanlis gives special importance in investments in the railway network. These investments, he notes, put the country on the tracks of Development. “The railway, he adds, is at the center of our strategy for a new production model, which will make Greece an infrastructure hub and give new prospects for development. We connect ports, railways, highways, in the context of a coherent plan”.
Optimistic for 2023, he notes that only a new Tsipras government with Varoufakis-style crutches would risk derailing the economy again.
The interview of Kostas Karamanlis at TheTOC
Q: How feasible is it for Greece to maintain its growth momentum in 2023?
The Greek economy has now left behind the ominous image of the past. And I’m not saying this, all the official data shows it. I remind you that 2022 will close with an annual growth rate of 5.6%. That is twice the average. This proves that our national economy, even in the midst of international crises, continues unwaveringly on a positive course. And all indications are that this may continue in 2023.
Take the construction industry, which I obviously know first-hand… Along the way, it has contributed the most. Because large infrastructure projects mark extensive leveraging of funds, wide mobilization of resources, absorption of national and European funds, new and well-paid jobs. They create a whole series of value. And they are the most critical prerequisite to develop in every aspect of economic activity: In industry, the primary sector, tourism, exports, extroversion.
That’s why we designed and implemented a comprehensive project program across the country, totaling more than 13 billion. euro. And in fact, we managed to auction projects worth more than 10 billion. euro. Something that did not happen – in such a short time – not even before the Olympic Games. And of these, we have already contracted projects worth 4.2 billion. euros, when the SYRIZA Government for 4.5 years had contracted projects worth only 800 million.
So with this shot, A “growth leap” of the construction sector, who came out of a particularly problematic period. It is characteristic that according to the IOBE study, the construction industry, for the first time since 2008, assessed its expectations for the future as positive. Data from the same study shows that, based on the plan currently in development, the direct contribution of construction to GDP will rise to 7.7% by 2026.
Also, the messages for the sector and for the Greek economy as a whole are encouraging. Despite the difficult international environment, we can continue in the same positive way in 2023. The only thing that could theoretically stop this course of our economy, would be if the people made a different decision in the upcoming elections. Only a new Tsipras government with Varoufakis-style crutches would risk derailing the economy again – but frankly, I don’t think that can happen.
Q: Is growth possible, even if Europe – as everything shows – sinks into recession?
Our country is obviously also immediately affected by the announcements. This is why our own government was the first to insist on taking common European measures to deal with the energy crisis. Europe is of course sometimes slow… characteristically – and dangerously – to make decisions. On the other hand, however, at the same time the European Union protects us from the worst and gives us additional supplies. As is the Recovery Fund and the projects that will be done with it.
Within this international reality, our country, like every member, has its own policies, its own strategy. I mentioned to you before the elements that make us feel in spite of difficulties. I can dwell on two more points:
On the one hand, the energy crisis makes our planning to make Greece an energy hub, infrastructure, transport and logistics hub even more relevant. The crisis could even be an occasion to speed up the implementation of this plan, after all we are already moving forward with rapid steps.
And on the other hand, of course, our government has committed to continue supporting society and the economy, as it did during the pandemic. This is our political will and implementation in practice.
Q: What are the reforms that will allow the growth momentum to be maintained?
Let me give you an example from my area of responsibility: The railway projects, which literally put the country on the rails of development. Until recently, we had fragmented contracts. The Other did the infrastructure, another did the infrastructure, others the telecommunication and remote control systems. And after all these contracts they had to be married together to make the works functional. In the meantime, of course, years had passed and the… we had missed the train.
As the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, what have we done? We negotiated for two years with the relevant Directorates-General of the Commission and managed to change the way railway projects are tendered. Now the auction is done with the design-build process. An end to fragmented contracts. Railway projects are now “turnkey”.
Why am I mentioning all this? Because the railway is at the center of our strategy for a new production model, which, as we said, made Greece an infrastructure hub and will provide new growth prospects. We connect ports, railways, highways, in the framework of a coherent plan. I even remind you that rail projects are the future, as the EU now wants to finance road projects – the last major motorist with European funding is BOAK.
Q: Can the subsidy policy to address the energy crisis undermine the primary surplus target?
Let’s make something clear here: The substantial support of households and countries in the face of unpredictable external crises is not a bonus policy. It is an absolutely necessary policy to maintain social cohesion and not to undermine the development dynamic.
In New Democracy, as you know, we recognize the freedom of the market, with the regulatory intervention of the state. This is what radical liberalism means. We also know – and prove it over time – to respond to the needs of the times, without dogma, but by realistically judging what is necessary and what is effective.
And of course, we make sure to find the fiscal space to support society and the economy, without ever jeopardizing the fiscal balance. We are not the ones who give everything to everyone, lightly. We exhaust all possibilities, but we don’t go beyond them. The short-sighted bidding of some was paid very dearly by the country in the past.
If we chose to make ourselves more pleasant today by spreading money around, we would have to impose new taxes tomorrow. On the contrary, however, we reduce taxation, share the growth surplus and maintain a delicate fiscal balance.
Q: How likely is the eventual political instability to affect the growth of the economy?
As I told you earlier, I do not believe that there will be long-term political instability. sure, SYRIZA left behind a political “mine” in the form of simple analogy. And so, as everything seems, we will have a double pre-election period. But upon completion, I firmly believe that citizens will once again give a vote of confidence to New Democracy.
Everyone has understood how crucial this electoral battle is for the country. And here I want to take this opportunity to clarify something: Even in the first elections there is no room for the so-called “relaxed vote”, since the first ballot even if it does not produce the government that will shape the conditions for the second and decisive electoral contest.
I talk every day with our fellow citizens, in Athens, in Serres, but also throughout Greece where I visit our ongoing projects. And I find that, while on the one hand an international energy crisis rages and, on the other hand, Turkey provokes more and more, the great majority of citizens certainly do not want adventures. And of course no one believes anyone who suspects that he will supposedly abolish accuracy “with a law and an article”.
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