Battle for economic recovery to be bolstered by 24bn euros in EU funding

By Christos Kolonas

The government appears to have secured 12bn euros in fluidity for this year through three funding tools - the refund of taxes paid up front, the Entrepreneurship Fund II, and the business Guarantees Fund - that are supported by both the EU's National Strategivc Reference Framework (NSRF) and national funding. with over eight billion euros in capital to manage the repercusion of the COVID-19 epidemic.

An estimated 3.3bn euros will be disbursed from the new cycle of funding tools at the beginning of this year to support an additional 20,000 small-to-medium-sized businesses.

The ministry of development has already prepared the NSRF plan for EU funding for the 2021-2027 period. Along with national funding, 24bn euros will be made available to back Greece's econoimic recovery.

The new NSRF

The plan was drafted by deputy minister Yannis Tsakiris and provides for funding to five sectors in line with the government's economic priorities.

The first is the competitiveness and the digital transformation of the economy (20.3 percent).

The objective is to link research to the productive base of the economy, the adaptation of Greek industry to the competitive environment by creating value in all areas of entrepreneurship, stregthen the capacity for innovation of small-to-medium-sized businesses, and facilitating access to funding and broadening the scope of funding tools through the creation of a business-friendly institutional environment and the digital transformation of Greece's public administration, of the state, and of the economy.

Environment and energy

The second area involves the environment, energy, and civil protection (26.1 percent of overall spending) with...