It is
exactly five years since Greece joined the European Support Mechanism with the
close cooperation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The policy
of extreme austerity applied in the country at the behest of international
creditors over the years has further aggravated the economic and social
reality. As a result, GDP had shrunk to 186.54 billion in 2014. Public debt has
soared to 176% as a percentage of GDP. Unemployment has risen dramatically to
26%, affecting mainly young people many of whom have brilliant scientific
knowledge and as a result migrate abroad. This serious loss of talent could
help the country at this critical juncture. The percentage of Greeks living
below the limits of poverty is 34.6% or 3.795100 people.
So, one
understands from the above that the programme of fiscal consolidation in a
country that was already in recession before 2010 has completely failed and it
would not be rational, economically and socially, to continue its application.
This particularly restrictive fiscal policy and austerity measures form an
exceptionally lethal debt-recession-austerity spiral, ruling out any prospect
for development.
The debt is huge and unbearable
Therefore,
the observed persistence in strict continuation of the extreme austerity
programme by creditors will have truly tragic consequences for the country. It
will lead to total economic disaster, which will not be healed for decades and
certainly to an incredibly serious humanitarian crisis for the standards of a
post-war Europe.
The
homeless and impoverished citizens who one can already be seen in the streets
of Athens will multiply rapidly. Suicides due to hopelessness and despair
caused by the inability to survive will continue its frantic growth trend.
Children blacking out in schools due to lack of adequate nutrition will become
everyday part of life.
The
question then arises with intensification this critical period is what should
be done in order for Greece to leave the pitch dark tunnel of deep economic
crisis and enter the bright avenue of development and progress.
First, the
burden of debt the Greek economy carries on its back is huge and unbearable,
and there seems no possibility of payment in full. Therefore, we need to write
off the majority of the nominal value of the debt so that the debt burden of
the country will be below 100% and become sustainable with a technique that
will not harm the other peoples of Europe. The repayment of the remaining debt
will be connected with a “development clause”, so as to serve from the
development and not from any budget surplus.
Secondly,
require the reconstruction of production in the country with these key
elements:
The sustainable equilibrium of the balance
current account through changing the mix of produced products in the country,
thus strengthening the export orientation margins of many sectors of the Greek
economy;
The
industrialization with the implementation of an integrated sustainable
industrial policy and the development of domestic research and production of a
wide range of high added-value products. The processing sector is particularly
critical since it is impossible to hope for a country that will rise in the
value chain in the global apportionment of labour without creating the
necessary manufacturing base that includes primarily the manufacture of
finished industrial products;
The special emphasis on tourism, to which
Greece has a strong comparative advantage and shipping -Greece has the largest
merchant fleet in the world- and certainly agriculture for the production basic
social goods, and
The efficient exploitation of raw materials
-such as bauxite from which aluminum is produced- and the potentially large
oilfields located both in the Aegean and the Ionian Seas.
Building a modern and efficient State
Thirdly, we
need to build a modern, efficient and rational state that will operate with
honesty and will not interpolate countless bureaucratic obstacles to business development
and the effective fight against the Lernean Hydra of corruption and tax
evasion, to remove the multiple negative economic, social and political
consequences caused and finally to apply fair taxation. The economic effects
have not only to do with the losses of state finances but also with adverse
effects on the private sector. When the notion that only with the bribing of
individuals holding nodal positions in public administration can achieve the
desired effect is consolidated, investments are discouraged, fair competition
is distorted and businesses that refuse to engage in such lawless and immoral
trade are condemned to stagnation.
The social
and political consequences of corruption are also extremely serious. Corruption
causes citizens’ resentment, frustration and a collapse of a strong sense of
values. It consolidates the belief that nothing works properly and that
law-abiding citizens do not feel justified in being so. Institutions are
undermined, shaken and ultimately slandered by the same democracy in the eyes
of citizens. We need the immediate establishment of a fair tax system that will
not encourage, and will not “justify” tax evasion, but will contribute
decisively to the development of taxpayers’ consciences, and will have as a
result a significant increase in government revenue.
(Πηγή:
descrier.co.uk)
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