EU money offered but not taken

One of the ways the previous government used to inflate its budget surplus, and thus try to convince the country's creditors that spending was finally being brought under control, was by underfunding public investment projects included in the budget.
In doing so, they were basically starving the economy of much-needed resources to boost growth.

As a consequence of this policy, the country failed to take advantage of plentiful money provided by the European Union for productive projects, especially as regards waste management and support for new businesses.

According to official data, Greece has absorbed 4.9 billion euros of the 19.7 billion earmarked by the EU for the 2014-20 period, or less than 25 percent.

At least the EU's N+3 rule - which means that each country has until three years after the official end of the funding program to absorb the funds...