The Greek government-debt crisis
is part of the ongoing European debt crisis, being triggered and directly caused locally in
Greece by a combination of structural weaknesses of the Greek economy along with a decade long pre-existence of overly
high structural deficits and debt-to-GDP levels on public accounts. In late 2009, fears of a sovereign debt crisis developed
among investors concerning Greece's ability to meet its debt
obligations, due to a reported strong increase in government debt levels along with continued existence of high structural deficits. This
led to a crisis of confidence, indicated by a widening of bond yield spreads and the cost of risk insurance on credit default swaps compared
to the other countries in the Eurozone. The Eurozone countries, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF),
later nicknamed the Troika, responded by
launching bailout loans to rescue Greece based conditionally on implementation
of austerity measures, structural reforms and privatization of
government assets. The final review of the entire bailout programme was
expected to be published by the Troika in February 2015. Following the rejection of the government's candidate
for president in parliamentary votes during December 2014, a snap parliamentary election was
held on 25 January 2015. The Syriza Party won
the election and formed a new government, which declared the old bailout
agreement was now cancelled, while requesting acceptance of an extended
deadline from 28 February to 31 May 2015 for the process to negotiate a new
replacing creditor agreement with the Eurogroup. Eurogroup ministers and other creditors agree to extend Greece's bailout program
for another four months, after accepting reform plan by Greek government. Markets have
grown more optimistic that the country's immediate future in the Eurozone will
be secure until the summer, but with the
government rapidly running out of options, even the negotiation of any reforms
would still not ensure Greece's financial future after June.
This difficult and economically unstable time
was not attractive for any investments. Few investment projects were initiated
challenging some few opportunities for growth and jobs. The most prominent
investment, among the largest ever taking place in Greece, is the large-scale
gold mining and metallurgy project going currently on in northern Greece. The
business and operational plan in place anticipates mining of three world-class ore
deposits, followed up by mineral processing and metallurgy. The commercially
marketable commodities being produced are zinc and lead concentrates, and those
about to be produced are copper and gold metals. The permitting procedures,
including the Environmental Impact Study and the technical plan have been
approved by the government authorities in charge.
Since the project started operating 10 years
ago, it enabled progressive production figures, year after year, facilitated
new job opportunities and contributed to growing local economies. Today more
than 2.000 full-time employees are directly supported in the three mining and
exploration areas, while additional 2.500-3.000 persons are supported
indirectly as a result of multiplier impacts throughout the economy.
The mining activities have for some years now
facing the reactions and opposition from mainly one local community, and
activist groups coming along from other parts of the country. They state
environmental and ecological awareness issues, but the main reasons are local
economy and political interests. These groups received also strong political
support by the parties recently elected in the government, since the time they
were in opposition. Upon this fact, the
Minister in charge decided recently to redraw some of the permits making clear
that his government will stop the investment and close the mine operations
sending 2 000 workers to unemployment and converting productive economy
employment to social-dependent misery.
In the Juncker’s EU investment plan,
·
Through
Raw Materials Initiative (RMI) mineral resources are placed in the top of EU’s
growth agenda and 2020 industrial strategy, having competitiveness, sustainable
development and jobs in focus.
·
The overall objective of the RMI is
to contribute to achieving the Europe 2020 goal of smart, sustainable and
inclusive growth via helping to realize a green economy, i.e. a circular
economy in sync with the natural environment. Environmental and resource
pressures are increasingly threatening economic growth, EU competitiveness and
prosperity. In future, sustained prosperity and ecological and social welfare
will depend on increasing resource productivity, underpinned by R&I. This
objective supports the Europe 2020 Innovation Union and Resource Efficiency
Flagship initiatives.
·
The
strategic implementation plan of European Innovation Partnership on Raw
Materials has in place 94 R&I actions to be financed by Horizon 2020, and
other funding schemes, aiming at new technology and production developments
across the minerals value chain to promote resource efficiency and secure raw
materials supply in Europe.
·
Most
of the EU countries, such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Ireland, go along this line and
take actions in favor of new mining investments, turning out to become
important global miners.
·
Environmental
and public awareness issues received growing attention by the EU policy makers,
putting into implementation new legislations and directives addressing re-use
and recycling as part of an efficient waste management approach and as input to
circular economy practices
·
The
fact that reforms in Greece should include and be relied on ongoing
investments, such as the gold mining and metallurgy project in Halkidiki, which
already contributes to jobs and creates new working opportunities, social
wellbeing and growing economies.
There should be clear messages to the Greek
government that,
·
Economic contribution of the mining industry , in
terms of estimated
economy-wide expenditure impact, is supporting directly and indirectly more than 5.000 regional
jobs
·
The economic value-added contribution
of the minerals mining and exploration industry to the
Greek economy is expected to be considerable and far-reaching
·
Greece
needs strong, competitive industries that punch above their weight in the
international arena. The Greek Mining industry could become a significant
global player in terms of zinc, lead, copper, gold, silver output.
·
The existing
figures indicate that this highly-paid
employment within the mining and exploration sector takes place in the regional
economy making it all the more valuable at a local level, especially in the
context of the high unemployment rates prevailing across many sectors of the
economy at this time. This feature may help address the regional challenge for
Government in job creation.”
·
The Minister
however stated that it isn’t Government policy to support this investment, and
that might also affect search for, and responsible development of, further
mineral resources so that these positive impacts can continue to be enjoyed in
the future.
·
At EU scale,
exploitation of the world-class Greek mineral resources could certainly
contribute to secure raw materials supply and place Europe in the technological
forefront towards a competitive and sustainable mining industry.
