The president of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vassilis Korkidis, said Thursday’s compromise decision by the Eurozone’s finance ministers, at the closely watched Eurogroup venue, was “satisfactory” in terms of funds from individual euro-tools, but still lacking ground-breaking decisions and common EU solutions.
Korkidis, a well-known business sector representative in Greece and also the president of the Attica Region Chambers, covering the greater Athens area, added:
“At the Eurogroup marathon meeting to address the cost of the crisis and the restart of the EU-27 economy, the final decisions were conciliatory, but not decisive for the next day.
“The EU in this crisis should show greater determination and reciprocity in dealing effectively with the economic consequences of the coronavirus. European finance ministers may have decided the 540 billion euros on funding lines and tools to support the national economies of the member states, but they have bypassed the ‘weapon of corona-bond’, which was also the official position of the Greek government. A groundbreaking decision to issue a joint Eurobond would clearly show the will to keep the European economic and social cohesion strong in the ‘post-coronation era’.
“The anguish of the powerful in the north, however, seems to be more focused on the tragic dilemma between prolonging restrictions and the collapse of the economy than on seeking a dynamic way out with catalytic financial support and solidarity. The need for a common bond issue in support of the most affected countries and the strategy of a common European solution, despite the ambitious efforts of nine countries, did not ultimately convince Germany and the Netherlands.
“From ESM 240 billion euros are made available to Member States with minimal participation requirements for up to 2 percent of their GDP, as well as state guarantees of 25 billion euros from the EIB, which can raise up to 200 billion euros. It was also decided to establish the mechanism ‘SURE-Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency’, which aims to protect jobs and the unemployed by providing financial assistance, amounting to 100 billion euros, in the form of loans on very favorable terms.
“At least, this time the countries’ access to European loans, fortunately, will not be accompanied by memorandum terms or fiscal reforms, as has unfortunately been the case for a number of years for our country, but will certainly increase their public debt at the risk of a new debt crisis in the Eurozone. Nevertheless, very positive for our country is the decision of the ECB that now accepts Greek bonds as collateral, which can reduce the cost of money and give additional liquidity of 10 billion euros, which until now was not available.
“As Greek success is considered the approval of the EU Competition Commission for the ‘Guarantee Fund’ with two billion euros, as well as the ‘refundable down payment’ for direct liquidity of 1 billion euros to SMEs.
“Following the Eurogroup’s decision to use financial individual ‘euro-tools’, our country’s immediate approach on both fronts, the one of public health with the internationally recognized effective response to the pandemic and the other of the economy with ‘Greek package’ of gradual support measures of 24 billion euros, allows us to believe that Greece is already implementing, the right plan for the next day.”
