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Victoria Mindova

“We chose the recession to the bankruptcy,” was the comment of Dimitris Daskalopoulos, chairman of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) regarding the enacting of the special measures for saving the Greek economy. According to the factory owner it is indisputable the fact that the increase of the tax weight on the enterprises, the increase of the VAT and excise duty will inevitably lead to a deeper recession and slowing down of the economic growth of the country. The measures were described as heavy, however also inevitable because of the direct dependence of Greece on the foreign markets and external financing.

“The important thing is how can we adapt to the new economic environment in order to rehabilitate as quick as possible our financial stability,” said Dimitris Daskalopoulos at a meeting with journalists. He stated that in the best case scenario Greece will start to recover from the economic recession in five years time. He did not exclude the possibility for this period to last for  decade if the government of Greece does not create an effective long term plan for action which to follow strictly.

To the question asked by GRreporter about how will the economic crisis affect the Greek investments on the Balkan Peninsula and more specifically in Bulgaria, the chairman of the industrial chamber responded: “The Greek enterprises who have already settled on the Balkan Peninsula have very strong positions on the local markets. The internal for Greece economic crisis will not affect the activity of these enterprises as they have the experience and the mechanisms to balance their budgets according to the conditions of both markets.”

A major problem which has been recently of interest to the Greek society is whether the announced cut of the fourteenth salary in the public sector will also transfer in the private one. Dimidtris Daskalopoulos as a representative of the organizations employers officially announced that the private enterprises will not undertake any actions related to the decrease of the annual income of the people employed in the private corporation. He underlined that the exaggerated public sector suffocates the development of the market economy and supported the idea for the privatization of the government enterprises.

The chairman of the industrial chamber stood behind the thesis that through privatization the losing companies could be revived and in this way to revive also the productivity of the country and to open new job positions. “In a period of crisis the goal is not to secure the current working places of the people employed (even though in losing enterprises), but to give a chance to the citizens to change their professions and to adapt to the new conditions of the labor market,” stated Daskalopoulos.