The President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Mr. Yannis Bratakos, addressed the key challenges and growth prospects of the Greek economy while speaking at the “Greece 2030” conference, specifically during the panel discussion titled “Beyond the RRF: The New Development Model and Prospects."
In his remarks, the President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized that today’s Greece bears no resemblance to the Greece of the crisis era, noting the steady upward trajectory since 2019, the halving of unemployment, and the significant boost in investment.
However, he expressed cautious concern regarding recent forecasts by international organizations and the EU, which project a growth rate of around 2% for this year and 1.8% and 1.6% for the coming years.
As he pointed out, although these figures are above the European average, they remain low relative to the actual needs for the Greek economy to achieve meaningful convergence with the other Eurozone countries.
For this reason, he proposed shifting the national planning horizon to 15 years, that is, toward 2040, as the foundations for the new economy must be laid now. “Major changes to the production model are not completed in three years. We must lay the groundwork starting today and plan with a 15-year horizon, looking toward Greece in 2040, so as to ensure a sustainable, competitive, and productive economy for future generations,” said Mr. Bratakos.
Mr. Bratakos identified the strengthening of industry and increasing its share of GDP as the first necessary priority. As he explained, bold changes are needed in the system of state and European subsidies to provide tangible support to Greek companies that intend to contribute significant equity capital.
Particular emphasis was placed on the problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, with the President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry calling for a national and European review of the framework and the threshold for de minimis aid. At the same time, he highlighted the major obstacle of access to bank lending, noting that, despite the positive loan approval rates reported by banks, the reality is that many SMEs struggle or are deterred from applying for financing. This is due to the enormous bureaucratic costs and inflexible criteria, which fail to properly evaluate viable business plans.
Referring to the labor market, Mr. Bratakos made it clear that unemployment has fallen significantly and that the real challenge businesses face today is the lack of skilled personnel. In this context, he called for a “reform shock” in education with a radical shift toward secondary technical and vocational education. As he pointed out, in this sector Greece must “look to its past” and revive the successful models of apprenticeship schools, which produced highly skilled craftsmen and have historically served as a key pillar for strengthening the productive capacity of industry.
Focusing on agri-food, he emphasized that the country possesses unique advantages, but the primary sector remains at a lower level than it could be. He argued that we must move away from the outdated model of manual labor and invest in new technologies.
Additionally, Mr. Bratakos pointed out that the tourism model also needs to be redesigned. The country’s goal should no longer be simply to increase the volume of tourists, but to attract high-spending visitors who will stay longer. At the same time, he underscored the need to expand the tourism product from the islands to mainland Greece, in order to upgrade the overall value chain of the Greek economy.
Finally, the President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry emphasized that a key prerequisite for the success of all the above is investment security, which is seriously undermined as long as the pace of the administration of justice in the country does not keep pace with the pace of economic growth.
The discussion, moderated by journalist Mr. Babis Papadimitriou, also included the Head of the Prime Minister’s Economic Office, Mr. Michalis Argyrou, the President of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), Mr. Spyros Theodoropoulos, the Economist and former Deputy Minister, Mr. Dimitris Liakos, as well as the General Director of “Tiresias,” Dr. Petros Kapasouris.