N. Papandreou: Let the government listen to what Lagarde says about bureaucracy and the Recovery Fund –

On the occasion of the interview of the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, in the French newspaper Le Monde, the MEP of the PASOK, Nikos Papandreou, made the following statement:

“The ECB president’s remarks about the bureaucratic problems in the EU, which are turning into obstacles for the Recovery Fund, should be a “bell” of danger for all member states.

But one more for our country, which Christine Lagarde brought as a “bad example” referring to the insufficient absorption of the Recovery Fund funds.

It is sad that out of the 27 member states of the EU, the head of the European Central Bank has Greece as the first example for the “bureaucracy award”.

It is time for the Maximos palace to abandon the narrative of the “staff state” and finally listen to the international exhortations for the benefit of the country. The “excuses” ran out and the years that the ND is in power are unfortunately already too many. The management of the funds of the Recovery Fund is solely its responsibility.”

What Lagarde had said

“Europe is falling behind and we have to find a way to keep the companies that started here and are growing elsewhere. Europe does not need to go through another crisis.” This was explained by the head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, in an interview with the French Le Monde, pointing out that Mario Draghi’s report highlights the productivity gap, which is largely due to the technological sector.

In relation to the lag in the utilization of funds from the EU, as was done in the case of the European Recovery Fund of 750 billion euros, Lagarde underlined the “European slowness”, as, as she said, “four years later, less than half of the loan”.

In fact, he cited the Greek crisis as an example, saying: “We had exactly the same problem in the Greek crisis. The administrations of the various countries are not always able to manage the incoming funds quickly. The finance ministers of the countries that receive a lot of funds tell you that they have of course identified which bridge or railway line to build, but that they need to get local permits as well as permits to expropriate property and that environmental groups are taking legal action. All this takes a lot of time.”