In regard to the SMEs programme, which had
been pre-published last spring and was eagerly
awaited by the market, the general secretaries for
Public Investments (NSRF), Giorgos Panoussis,
for Industry, Spiros Eustathopoulos and for
Tourist Infrastructure & Investments, Yannis
Pyrgiotis, announced that the period for the sub-
mission of proposals would be from February 25
till April 25, 2013.
It is estimated that 10,000 existing and start-up
businesses from all regions of the country will be
T
he year 2012 closed without any loss of
funds and with the target set by the
Memorandum achieved by almost 90%,
thanks to the effort made in the second half of the
year to cover the slippage. This year, though, the
bar has been raised even higher, close to
€
3.9 bil-
lion; these funds are valuable for restarting the
economy and holding unemployment in check.
In this context, the government has announced
the measures for injecting small and medium-
sized enterprises with
€
456 million from the
National Strategic Reference Framework
(NSRF), as well as the ICT4Growth programme,
while certain steps are also being taken to disen-
gage total funds of
€
300 million that have been
“parked” with the Hellenic Fund for
Entrepreneurship and Development (ETEAN)
and to channel them to the market.
Trade with Greece
58
An aggressive EU fund
utilization policy: this is
what the Ministry of
Development has been
pursuing in 2013, as part
of the effort to boost liq-
uidity, economic activity
and employment, as well
as to hit the
Memorandum’s targets in
regard to the absorption
of NSRF funds.
By Kostas Voutsadakis
The aim is to make
full use of EU funds
