N. Androulakis: The government excludes thousands of SMEs from the Recovery Fund

The President of PASOK & Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, met today with representatives of small and medium enterprises.

He spoke successively with Giannis Chatzitheodosiou, President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce & the Central Union of Chambers of Greece, George Karanikas, President of the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship and George Kavvathas, President of the General Confederation of Professionals and Professionals Chamber of Athens. Immediately afterwards he stated:

“The New Democracy government is excluding thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises from the Recovery Fund, putting workers, themselves at risk, and passing on much of the cost to consumers at a time when accuracy is running high. The aim of our proposals is to strengthen to modernize and make Greek small and medium enterprises sustainable in the long run.

During the Pandemic, our country became one of the largest fiscal expansions in Europe, exceeding 25% of GDP. The results, however, were not very positive in relation to the money spent. We were third in the amounts we spent in proportion to our GDP and one of the last in the recovery of the economy. This means that the targeting and distribution of funds was wrong.

In response to the Pandemic crisis, the European Union has set up the Recovery Fund, a Solidarity Fund to support those whose pandemic has worsened their position as the year in the real economy. In Greece, a large category of these companies are overwhelmingly small and medium-sized enterprises, which failed to be financed either by the liquidity provided by the European Central Bank or now that they are in danger of being on the margins of loans and grants of the Recovery Fund. Mr. Mitsotakis’s strategy to include the Recovery Fund loans only with purchase criteria from domestic and foreign banking institutions excludes those who really need them.

After our discussion with the representatives of the institutions, we suggested:

– to have a 120-installment adjustment with additional incentives for those who adjust their obligations to less,

– a percentage of the Recovery Fund loans to go to SMEs with environmental criteria, digital modernization and incentives for synergies.

The President of PASOK-Movement for Change agreed with the representatives of the productive bodies to have regular and substantial communication in order to evaluate the economic course and the challenges faced by small and medium enterprises in the coming period.