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According to the President of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises Dimitris Daskalopoulos if the measures included in the Memorandum of financial support have been implemented gradually in the last five to fifteen years Greece would not be in this difficult position today. He confirmed that stringent measures are inevitable, but the consolidation of public finances is not enough. Tax burden that is currently suffocating private companies should be reduced. Daskalopoulos said that the vast body of the state has dragged private sector to bankruptcy. Only the employed in the private sector have been paying for the crisis until now. "Over 160 thousand people in the private sector lost their jobs recently because the state went bankrupt", Daskalopoulos accused the government and called again for immediate utilization of public ownership and cuts in state administration.  
 
"Now we need to consolidate state-owned enterprises and to eliminate unnecessary institutions," Daskalopoulos said explicitly. The businessman believes the government and foreign creditors in the face of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission overestimated people’s tax abilities. Indicative is the difference with the expected real revenue collected from taxes this year. Further measures are needed immediately to enhance economic activity in the country. Otherwise, Greece is threatened to sink into the doomed cycle of recession and unemployment that will make the external debt to only grow, and the final bankruptcy of the country will be inevitable.

Rescheduling the 110 billion euros debt, which is available to Greece in the next three years, is a wrong step, said Daskalopoulos. "It's like taking bitter medicine in small sips." He said Greece should follow the rescue program and implement it as quickly as possible. Only strict application of the structural changes will make lenders take the country seriously, which will have its contribution in renegotiating the 2010 and 2011 targets if necessary.

Meanwhile, the meetings of the supervisory Troika with government representatives continue. Two days before the final 2011 budget is submitted, the Commissioners of the IMF, the ECB and the EC will visit the Greek ministries to ensure that the obligations under the loan agreement (the Memorandum of financial support) are observed. After visiting the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis said that reduction in inflation is planned in the coming months from 5.4% to 2% -3%. This was one of the topics that were discussed at the meeting between the Minister and the mission this week.
 
Chrysohoidis stressed that the main tool of economic development in the coming years will be the funds from the National Strategic Development Framework, 14.05% of which were used until now and another 18% will be injected into the economy by the end of the year. National Development Framework has a total budget of around 21 billion euros for 2007-2013. Funds from this budget will be used for economic recovery and improving the business environment in the country. According to the Minister of Economy and Regional Development, they can play a crucial role in times of crisis.

Minister Chrysohoidis pledged that the next two years will enable the establishment of 50,000 new enterprises through EU funds and over five billion euros will be injected in the local economy by the end of 2011. These new companies will develop in innovation, technology and other sectors with high added value.

According to industrialists, the rescue plan of Minister Chrysohoidis is quite ambitious and difficult to implement even in times of crisis. EU funding can not fill the gaps in the economic system and does not solve completely the problems of real business. It is necessary to correctly implement structural and fiscal consolidation, which will provide a basis for developing new initiatives and attract foreign investment. "But first we have to learn to live with what we earn, not with borrowed money," concluded Dimitris Daskalopoulos.