On Monday, the Greek government is to provide Brussels with a plan of the most urgent reforms. The further international financial assistance shall only be granted if these reforms are implemented.
In the view of Mr Maciej Bukowski, PhD, the chairman of the Warsaw Institute for Economic Studies, Greece should begin their reform scheme with the implementation of a consistent privatisation plan. – This is also something that Germany continues to insist on. In Greece, many enterprises, often operating in the area of infrastructure, services (including public services), the energy industry and a part of the shipping industry are still owned by the state and are often rather inefficient.
The second issue is that of the public sector (the state administration), in which salaries are very high compared to the market level in Greece, which increases the overall salary level, hindering the development of small businesses. One cannot provide excessive funds to state administration. When one does so, it is always at the expense of someone else. First, the government either increases taxation or borrows money in order to be able to pay these salaries, and, secondly, by doing so it also increases expectations as to remuneration. The change of this state of affairs is therefore one of the reforms which Greece should embark upon – Mr Bukowski stated.
