Greece’s National Industrial Strategy: How the action plan is evolving – Meeting under the Minister of Development

The progress of the implementation of the National Strategic Industrial Action Plan was presented during the joint meeting of the Government Industry Committee and the Industrial Policy Coordination Committee which took place today, February 8, under the chairmanship of the Minister of Development and Investments, Mr. Adonis Georgiadis and SecGen for Industry Ms. Themis Eftychidou. The plan consists of a set of 43 interventions (National Initiatives, Flagship Projects, Programs and Actions), with a total budget of 2.1 billion euros, with the aim of strengthening Greek industry.

The two committees are made up of 8 ministries and general secretariats, as well as industry and local government associations, iand the Union of Regions.

By 2030

As the Minister of Development and Investments Adonis Georgiadis said, “the implementation of the National Industrial Strategy is not something that happens overnight. It will be a dynamic project until 2030 and today we are here to see how the beginning has been made and what the next steps are.”

Afterwards, Mr. Georgiadis referred to the reasons why the National Strategy is of great importance at the given moment, stressing that Europe is facing the energy crisis and the need to protect its industry creatinge the conditions of strategic autonomy. “In this puzzle, Greece must have a strategy and an answer to the challenges,” he stressed.

The minister placed special emphasis on internal government planning, stressing that “this is the first time in Greece that we have developed a Strategy marked by private and public sector cooperation. So, we have every guarantee to keep the channels open through the mechanism of the Government Committee, to exchange opinions and share the needs on both sides, in order to have a national – common voice to the outside”.

On the occasion of the current developments, Mr. Georgiadis stated that the National Industrial Strategy and in particular the Action Plan will be updated, in order to take into account all the new conditions, mainly in the issues of strategic autonomy.

In closing, he stated that due to the excellent work, as well as the emblematic importance of the National Industrial Strategy, in the context of the Technical Assistance of the European Commission, it is proposed that all EU member states proceed with the preparation of National Industrial Strategies, in standards of the Greek case, once again setting Greece as “the good example”.

How the implementation is “running”.

The SecGEn for Industry Ms. Themis Eftychidou then presentaed the progress in the implementation of the Action Plan of the National Industrial Strategy. As she mentioned, a total of 8 actions have already been completed or are being implemented. The actions concern the two state aids of the General Secretariat of Industry: “smart manufacturing” for the digital transformation of small and medium enterprises (€75 million) and the development of industrial parks (€63 million). Also, she doted on the adoption of the new law 4982/2022 on business parks, as well as in the continuation of reforms to improve and simplify the business environment in the areas of licensing and business and market control. The projects under implementation include the development of policy tools and mechanisms for the promotion of sustainable investments implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Development and Investments and the Ministries of Finance and Environment & Energy, as well as the upgrading of the National Vocational Education and Training System.

Ms. Eftychidou presented the 14 interventions of the Action Plan for the National Industrial Strategy that are under planning and will soon begin their implementation. The most emblematic of these are the two invitations within the NSRF 2021-2027 and the National Plan for Competitiveness, for the digital and green transformation of Greek businesses, including manufacturing businesses and industries, amounting to 300 million and 700 million euros, respectively.

At the same time, he announced that he has already been pre-selected by the European Commission and is expected to start a new project to strengthen the country’s strategic autonomy in the critical sectors of health, food, construction materials and raw materials, as well as the development of skills in industry and meeting human resource needs, with an emphasis on retraining and upskilling.

Finally, she referred to the actions that are currently maturing, with the most important being the in-company training program within the NSRF 2021 – 2027, with the aim of providing personalized training to employees based on the needs of each company.

Support from the EU

The meeting was also attended by the Head of the Directorate for Support of Reforms in the EU Member States of the Directorate General for Support of Structural Reforms (DG REFORM) of the European Commission, Ms. Nathalie Berger, who in her intervention congratulated the Ministry of Development and Investments and the General Secretariat of Industry for their commitment to this crucial action at both national and European level. In addition, Mrs. Berger referred to international developments and emphasized the commitment of the European Commission to support European industry.

The round of interventions was closed with the presentation of the contracting company PwC on the governance structure and monitoring tools of the National Industrial Strategy.