Who Benefits from Greece’s New Development Law? Not Everyone

At the heart of the law is a broad set of financial instruments, designed to stimulate private investment and speed up licensing procedures.

Greece’s new Development Law, recently unveiled by the government, has been presented as a bold

step toward revitalizing the country’s investment climate and reshaping its economic structure. Promising faster approvals, expanded funding tools, and a more dynamic framework for attracting capital, the law arrives with the stated ambition of fostering sustainable and inclusive growth. Yet behind the rhetoric, significant concerns are emerging about its complexity, accessibility, and potential to reinforce existing inequalities.

At the heart of the law is a broad set of financial instruments, designed to stimulate private investment and speed up licensing procedures. The government pledges that investment approvals will now be issued within 90 days, while companies will have access to a mix of grants, tax exemptions, leasing subsidies, and state guarantees. In theory, this represents a significant shift away from Greece’s traditionally sluggish and bureaucratic investment environment.

However, the architecture of the law is proving to be a double-edged sword. Its complexity—featuring twelve separate aid schemes, five types of financing tools, and multiple overlapping evaluation mechanisms—requires a level of technical expertise that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those located outside Athens and Thessaloniki, simply do not possess. Larger companies, equipped with legal teams and consultants, are far better positioned to navigate this labyrinth. The risk is that the law will unintentionally favor the already advantaged, leaving smaller regional businesses struggling to access support.

Another point of contention lies in the evaluation process itself. While companies are allowed to apply under more than one aid scheme, only one application will be accepted, and the rest automatically rejected. This not only increases administrative burden but also adds to the confusion and uncertainty for applicants. Meanwhile, the lack of clear qualitative criteria for comparative evaluations undermines transparency and raises questions about the objectivity of funding decisions.

The promise of rapid investment approvals within 90 days, though well-intentioned, also runs up against the reality of Greece’s entrenched administrative inefficiencies. Without a meaningful increase in state capacity or streamlined oversight mechanisms, critics fear these deadlines may remain aspirational. Of particular concern is a provision allowing the Minister of Development to take over the licensing process in the event of delays. While this could speed up approvals in some cases, it also risks concentrating power and politicizing decisions that should remain technocratic.

Financially, the law opens the door to greater risk-sharing by the state. New mechanisms for subsidizing business risk and issuing state-backed loans via the European Investment Bank are designed to support innovation and entrepreneurship. Yet if the funded projects fail—especially the larger ones—the fiscal consequences could be substantial. This is especially relevant given the law’s clear tilt toward large-scale investments, which may skew the playing field and crowd out smaller players who form the backbone of the Greek economy.

In terms of implementation, the law’s strict penalties for underperformance raise eyebrows. If an investor does not implement at least 10% of a project within two years, their support is revoked. While this is meant to ensure accountability, it overlooks the often volatile and unpredictable nature of the Greek market, particularly in sectors like energy, tourism, and manufacturing. More troubling is that while penalties for investors are well defined, there is no equivalent mechanism to hold the state accountable for its own delays or administrative failings.

Finally, while the law pays lip service to sustainable development and regional equity, it lacks a comprehensive framework for social inclusion or environmental safeguards. Issues like accessibility for people with disabilities or ecological impact assessments are either addressed superficially or ignored entirely. As a result, the model that emerges is one focused largely on economic growth, without the social or environmental balance increasingly expected in modern development policy.

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