“Mr Speaker,
Dear Colleagues,
Dear members of parliament,
The reform being carried out in the field of international economic relations and the bolstering of the country’s openness was clearly underscored in the new architecture of the cabinet.
The extroverted economic growth of the country, now included in the crucial field of foreign policy, is acquiring new advantages and synergies. Leveraging these and achieving the intended ripple effect requires the substantial adaptation of the bodies implementing this growth to the new circumstances and challenges of this endeavour.
This bill is an effort to transform the ‘Enterprise Greece’ company into an outward-looking, modern and dynamic corporate structure that will contribute to the country's economic, social and environmental growth.
‘Enterprise Greece’ is the Greek State’s main driving force for attracting direct investments and promoting Greek exports.
The organisational and structural changes to its framework of operation provide the institutional guarantees and suitable tools to enable the company to support Greek and foreign enterprises in the best possible way, to upgrade the country’s international economic position and to promote sustainable development in accordance with good practice and international standards.
The changes effected to the Company’s modus operandi through this bill will allow it:
1. To contribute to the drafting of the ‘National Strategic Openness Plan’ and the action plan for the ‘architecture’ of the country’s national brand, providing the necessary support and proposals to the Secretariat General for International Economic Relations and Openness of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
2. To support Greek investments in foreign markets and the development of international trade, and to apply export support techniques through collaboration and participation in joint openness actions;
3. To mobilise investors and inform them about the institutional, legislative, taxation and financial framework governing investments in Greece, and to promote the country's business environment and investment opportunities in Greece to foreign markets;
4. To undertake the monitoring, study, drafting and recommendation of designs, proposals, measures, programmes and actions to promote, bolster and support exports, improve competitiveness, remove disincentives to exports, and attract investments.
5. Having regard to the needs of the real economy, an Openness Council is being instituted to provide advisory support to ‘Enterprise Greece’, with the robust participation of collective bodies of the market, business associations and specialised experts.
This will allow the company to contribute actively towards upgrading the investment climate both in the international markets and in the real economy of Greece.
The company, which operates under the oversight and coordination of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but fully retains its autonomy, is being further upgraded, becoming the key driver for the implementation of the National Openness Strategy. At the same time, the Economic and Commercial Affairs Offices operating at Greek diplomatic missions abroad will serve as the international ‘antennas’ of ‘Enterprise Greece’, decisively contributing to the implementation of its actions.
In this context, ‘Enterprise Greece’ is a unique body that operates in the public interest and, due to the nature of its fully outward-looking mission, is mainly active abroad, undertaking actions in a constantly shifting and expanding number of areas.
The changes being planned will boost the role of the Company, bringing it up to par with similar bodies supporting entrepreneurship and openness in other EU countries, according to the standards of similar European good practice in the field of openness.
Aiming to safeguard the effective and seamless operation of ‘Enterprise Greece’ and to ensure its adaptation to the foregoing and the requirements of international practice, an effort is made in this Article — in line with bodies operating within flexible frameworks — to enact special provisions and to remove restrictions that do not meet the operational and functional requirements of the company and the performance of the flexibility required.
More specifically, we are providing for the creation of a special legal framework of operation outside the general provisions of the public and broader public sector, always in compliance with European legislation and the common values it encompasses.
The purpose of the amendments to the Articles of Association is to enable direct connection to the private sector in order to obtain the skills and know-how needed.
At the same time, the Company is becoming the first body to adopt the safeguards of the newly established National Transparency Authority, in order to ensure both transparency and accountability, with structures and policies for prevention, for combating corruption and for bolstering integrity and good business morals.
As with every state governance reform, the challenge with the reform endeavour to bolster the country's openness lies in the responsiveness of public administration.
More specifically, public administration is being called upon to accept, assimilate and substantially incorporate the structural and functional changes required; this is why it is important to provide institutional tools in both the company and the human resources required to implement the reforms in a coordinated change management framework.”
October 24, 2019