The 106-page development development plan presented by PM Alexis Tsipras to his cabinet on 21 May was immediately blasted by main opposition New Democracy as pious wishes that the SYRIZA government will not have the time to implement.
“He [Tsipras] presented a plan without a shred of the necessary logic of growth and planning,” said New Democracy’s shadow economy and development minister, MP Dora Bakoyannis.
“If it took three years for the government to draft this, the only thing it achieved was to prove that the much-touted public consultations were simply a communications ruse,” she added.
She asserted that SYRIZA will not have time to implement the plan, implying that it will be succeeded by New Democracy after the next general elections.
The plan, entitled “Greece: A Growth Strategy for the Future” is intended as a development growth map for the post-bailout period, and it was revised twice before its public presentation.
The European Commission, to which it was presented first for approval, made many changes to the initial plan. It is indicative that on the first reading, the Commission sent Athens 80pages of observations on the comprehensive growth plan.
The plan notes reforms that the government has already implemented, yet there is hardly any quantification of targets, and there are hardly any specific data about the proposed reforms in particular sectors of the economy.
The plan is divided into five chapters: Fiscal Viability; Sustainable Development; Structural Conditions for Growth; Just Development Without Exclusion; Funding of Development.
