Subsidy

The president spoke briefly with the factory workers and wished them happy work.
The production process was presented to him.
"This looks amazing," commented the president of the machine shop.

National Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis presented six proposals for boosting the European Union's competitiveness during an informal ECOFIN Council of Ministers on the topic held in Ghent last week.

"We must adopt the Draghi dogma and do everything that is necessary to boost the European economy's competitiveness," Hatzidakis said during the meeting.

What is the problem with our agricultural economy? If it was only or mainly about money, the huge amount of funding that has flowed into Greece as income support and subsidies for investments from European funds after the country joined the European Economic Community (EEC), would have solved all its problems.

Thirty years after farmers first started blocking roads with their tractors, little has changed in the primary sector. Farmers are aging and their number is shrinking, good arable land remains relatively scarce and cooperatives exist mainly as a lever of pressure on the government of the time, while training is still lagging.

Amidst a fervent outcry, 26 agricultural organizations will gather outside the Council of Ministers, demanding the immediate resignation of Agriculture Minister Kiril Vatev. Defiant against government negotiations, these longstanding groups, boasting a collective 20 years of existence and employing over 300,000 individuals, assert their legitimacy.

As it emerged from the constructive debate in Parliament on Friday, government incentives to attract foreign capital, such as the Golden Visa program, have ended up causing more distortions in the property market than benefiting the national economy.

The acuteness of the housing crisis, but also the traces of opacity, justify a complete revision of the current regime.

Protesting farmers with their tractors take part in a rally outside an agricultural fair in the port city of Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Thursday. Greek farmers - hit by rising costs and crop damage caused by recent floods and wildfires - are threatening to block highways to press demands for tax relief and higher subsidy payments. [Giannis Papanikos/AP]

BELGRADE - The Serbian government adopted on Thursday a regulation on subsidies for purchases of new electrically-powered vehicles.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has set aside 170 mln dinars for this purpose.

Natural and legal persons and entrepreneurs are eligible for the subsidies.

The Hellenic Development Bank (EAT) will activate the third edition of the Entrepreneurship Fund (TEPIX III), with a total budget of 500 million euros.

It aims to support entrepreneurship with loans and guarantees of a total amount of €2.2 billion through the leverage of funds from the banks as well.

The government is looking for ways to defuse Greece's demographic ticking time bomb.