{
  "id": 9319561,
  "title": "Investoren: Bessere Wirtschaftsstruktur: Griechenland sucht produktivere ausländische Investitionen",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/investoren-bessere-wirtschaftsstruktur-griechenland-sucht",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-23T10:51:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/investoren-griechenland-sucht-produktivere-auslaendische-investitionen/100256304.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "Greece is pursuing a new strategy to attract higher-quality foreign investment, aiming to transition its economy towards a more productive structure. The conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' government plans to offer incentives, tax breaks, credit guarantees, and expedited approval processes to encourage foreign companies to establish new production facilities in Greece. The focus is primarily on manufacturing, research, applied innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, defense, and aerospace industries, as well as logistics, healthcare, and social welfare sectors like nursing homes.\n\nThe government aims to shift away from the investment boom driven by real estate, tourism, and other services in recent years, with the goal of generating more value from capital inflows and increasing the country's economic productivity. The Ministry of Development introduced a legislative proposal to address this shift, which is now making its way through the parliamentary process. Key elements of the new approach include greenfield investments, which involve building new factories, locations, or business units from scratch, often on undeveloped land. The scheme prioritizes projects in less developed regions to support structurally weak areas.\n\nProjects with an investment volume of between 10 and 50 million euros are eligible for support, with state assistance potentially reaching up to 20 million euros per project. The package also includes tax exemptions, loans guaranteed by the state development bank HDB, and simplified procedures for granting residence permits to foreign investors and employees. Public procurement processes will be expedited, with applications expected to be processed within two months, and the issuing authority stepping in if the deadline is missed. Eligible expenses include buildings, new machinery and equipment, and intangible assets such as patents, licenses, and software. However, the mere purchase of company shares does not qualify for assistance.\n\nGreece will not fund investments in the energy sector, tourism, or real estate, as these have been significant recipients of foreign capital in recent years. Between 2015 and 2025, 73% of total foreign direct investment (FDI) in Greece was directed towards the services sector and real estate market. The strategic shift comes at a time when FDI in Greece is increasing, with figures reaching 12.9 billion euros in 2022, up from 3.2 billion euros in 2020. Major foreign investors include Germany, which contributed around eight billion euros in cumulative investment. The primary objective now is to improve the quality of investments, focusing on increasing the contribution to value creation and productivity in the Greek economy. The low productivity, stemming from small business structures and the high proportion of services in the GDP, as well as the investment gap left from the years of fiscal crisis, are significant challenges for the Greek economy.",
  "summary": "Athen will ausländisches Kapital stärker lenken und konzentriert seine Förderung auf zehn Branchen. Auch deutsche Unternehmen können bis zu 20 Millionen Euro pro Projekt beantragen.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Handelsblatt",
        "title": "Subventionen: Griechenland will nun ganz andere Unternehmen anlocken – und zahlt Investoren bis zu 20 Millionen Euro",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/subventionen-griechenland-will-nun-ganz-andere-unternehmen-anlocken",
        "published": "2026-09-23T10:51:05.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}