Trade for Greece
October 6, 2011
Philipp Rösler is one of the few German cabinet ministers who has espoused concrete steps to reinvigorate Greece's real economy. But the economy minister and deputy chancellor sprang to public attention in September by suggesting an "orderly bankruptcy" for Greece.
Rösler, who leads the junior party in Germany's governing coalition, the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP), also asked his ministry to prepare cornerstone criteria for a hypothetical state insolvency.
Friend or adversary?
Rösler argues that providing more credit to a stricken country is one thing, but if Greek industry fails to boost its productivity and competitiveness then the impact of the bailouts will evaporate, turning Greece into a bottomless pit.
That's why Rösler has traveled to Greece with some 50 executives from German companies. The aim, he said, "is to act as a door-opener, so that personal contacts are made."
Climate for investment lax
The idea came from German industry itself. Industrialists who have already invested in Greece, or had intended to do so, have often been disappointed. The bureaucratic hurdles to setting up an enterprise in the country are high, they say, and the Greek administration is less than effective or transparent. Its justice system is too slow and corruption is not unknown.
Hans-Peter Keitel is president of the German Federation of Industry (BDI) and previously headed the board of the German construction concern Hochtief, which built the Athens airport.
From his own experience, he says foreign investors currently face a climate in Greece that is hardly inducive to their activities.
"That's exactly why we have been engaged over the past year in talks with Greek industry, and its economic and political representatives, to determine how the investment climate can be improved," Keitel said.
Visit modest but important
The Athens visit by the German delegation is intended to make limited but important contributions. Its unlikely to concern itself with the privatization of Greek state assets to raise 50 billion euros ($67 billion) over the next three years. Instead, the delegation members come from small and medium-sized German businesses, especially in the sectors of renewable energy, tourism infrastructure, water management and information technologies.
Great potential for partnerships exists in these sectors, according to Martin Knapp, the director of the German-Greek Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Athens.
Knapp says Greece has well-trained scientists, especially in technical disciplines. Many of them, especially young graduates, are jobless and looking abroad for work. Germany firms could recruit and retain them in Greece, resulting in far more cost effective employment.
"When someone is writing software," he says, "why should he sit in Hamburg, Munich or Frankfurt, when he could be carrying out the same task on the shores of the Mediterranean?"
Half of the members of Rösler's delegation have expressed the wish to meet Greek businesses operating in matching fields of industry.
The aims are modest, but at a time when confidence in Greece has eroded abroad, the chance that some German companies may be interested in investing seems like quite an important development.
Author: Panagiotis Kouparanis / ipj
Editor: Michael Lawton