SETE Says New Greek Incentives Law Complex, Unclear

Investment opportunities in Greece may not be going anywhere if the government doesn’t make the new development law simpler and clearer, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) said on Tuesday.

The new Greek incentives law tabled earlier this month which foresees deductions and exemptions, leasing and interest subsidies, and a 12-year fixed tax framework, must be simple with clear guidelines and deadlines for potential investors, SETE says, describing it as “problematic”.

Representing more than 50,000 tourism-related businesses in Greece, SETE warns that the provisions of the new framework for tourism do not contain measures of support, but instead add to the negative effects of Regulation 651/2014, which include significantly reducing maximum aid rates and prohibiting support to large enterprises for current economic activity in six very important-to-tourism regions.

SETE is now calling on the government to renegotiate the restrictive provisions of the said regulation given that regional aid rates were calculated based on 2008 data, which was before the crisis.

At the same time, the confederation underlines that the so-called fixed fiscal framework incentive for investments exceeding 20 million euros will prove to be ineffective particularly in view of the 20 percent increase in corporate tax raising fears of further imminent tax hikes and thus discouraging potential investors.