Greece to focus on green business programmes

Greece plans to use part of new community funds to support green sectors of production which have been either downgraded or remain in hypnosis, Economy Deputy Minister Alexis Haritsis said.

In an interview to Greenagenda.gr, Haritsis said that Greece has neglected the dimension of environmental and social sustainability of development interventions although there were and still are serious needs and several possibilities. In this framework, the management of new EU funds will signal a turn to sectors such as waste management, energy, tourist services, agricultural-food complex and living quality in cities. At the same time, authorities are redesigning existing funding tools and extend their operation until September, while new tools are planned to support business activity which will not be operated by systemic banks, but by new agencies such as a new Development Bank, the minister added.

Haritsis said the government planned actions worth around 500 million euros in 2016 aimed to boost green business, including some sub-contracts from the previous period (2007-2013), such as collection and processing of urban waste, while other actions will be completely new such as waste management, restoring of mountain tracks in tourist destinations, modernizing camps in regions of increased environmental interest and initiatives to improve city environment.

Haritsis said that the government will announce invitations to launch the new EU funds programme in January.