Living, Investing... in Greece (2) Investing

For the official blurb go here.
The site contains the usual mish-mash of syncopated info and a host of unsubstantiated reasons to... bring your solar panels to Greece.

For a more serious, no nonsensical approach and (much) better advice, go here.


For the hands-on experience, here are a few pointers...

Living, Investing... in Greece: (2) {Don't} Invest In Greece

Fiscal legislation changes annually; so do rates for corporate and personal taxation;

In times of crisis, extra contributions are levied -- at whim and will of the powers that be;

In Greece figures are notoriously unreliable, whether they be official, published, etc...

In Greece, administrative and/or government commitments can be notoriously unreliable; all it takes is a change of gov and you have to renegotiate the deal and the contract (look at CosCo for example).

Bureaucratic barriers to entry are high: there is even an organisation set up to steer investors away from the uncooperative administration;

Greek administrative legislation and bureaucracy, both, protect the Greek administration at the expense of the people; don't expect to get your papers in order unless you believe in miracles (or a miracle actually took place!);

Allegedly (by all) Greek Government agencies are notoriously corrupt; building permits, sundry fiscal issues, etc, will boost your admin (or legal counsel) budget; interstingly Greece has an automatic tax settlement method: give me X and you've got a deal.

In a move typical of modern Greek politics, the new governments is promising to stimulate the market and foreign investment by... raising income tax and capital gains tax

Athens is in the bottom 50 of (un)welcoming cities; Athens is particularly unfriendly to toddlers, children, and the ageing population (no where to walk, the few pavements are full of murderous potholes, there are rarely damages awarded for any personal claims...); to be on the safe side, your family will have to live elsewhere -- or relatively secluded from everyday life.

Athenians do not like, nor do they welcome, foreigners; fortunately, they dislike Greeks more.

The current leading opinion on labour matters is that work is a form of slavery; "discussions " on Greek TV resound of 50's Soviet propagandist illustrations of the West: business is the bad guy, conspiracies abound and many global perpetrators thereof are out to get Greece and its inhabitants, ranting and raving is the key (in short: the Soviet "West").


Do invest if you are occasional; you do not expect to employ anyone; can go ahead with the help of legal counsel alone; if you are thinking of real estate.