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There are further sectors where Greece is in an
excellent competitive position and where huge
potential for further development is obvious,
namely the tourist sector, the food industry and
the renewable energy supply.
In Germany we know that especially Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the back-
bone of a flexible, competitive and export-orient-
ed economy, which creates high-skilled jobs in
huge numbers. SMEs are successful when we let
them be successful. The key is the establishment
of a business-friendly environment. Watering the
seed, in this regard, means providing proper
access to credit financing, a supportive physical
infrastructure, as well as a knowledge infrastruc-
ture complete with schools, universities and R&D
institutions, which produce a highly skilled labour
force and organize knowledge transfer. In this
context, the German system of vocational training
has proved to be a very important asset for sup-
plying companies with the highly skilled and flexi-
ble workforce they need.
Trade with Greece
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Moreover, SMEs need an institutional and regu-
latory framework which removes barriers to
entrepreneurship and creates functioning and
competitive markets. The recovery of the
German economy after World War II was
–among others– built on the institutional princi-
ples of the “Ordnungspolitik”, which together with
social standards formed the “soziale
Marktwirtschaft”, a social market economy that
turned out to be an extremely successful institu-
tional setting for the economic success story of
post-war Germany.
The way forward to economic recovery is quite
obvious. Both European partners and institutions
have committed their support in many ways; they
need to stick to their commitments and intensify
their efforts in certain fields. When this framework
of European solidarity and support meets encour-
aged determination for a new start in Greece, the
Greek economy and the Greek people have any
chance to unlock a “Wirtschaftswunder”.