Following the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) and the Prime Minister’s announcements regarding small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed professionals, the President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Giannis Bratakos, speaks to “MP” about the needs of the market. He addresses energy costs, financing, and taxation, while highlighting the interventions required to ensure business sustainability. He also responds to criticism he has received regarding his positions.
Giannis Bratakos’s interview with Money Pro by Parapolitika
A longstanding demand from the business community is a significant reduction in advance tax payments. Are you satisfied with the timeline announced by the Prime Minister for its gradual reduction?
The Prime Minister’s announcement is moving in the right direction. However, the timeline is lengthy and does not address the market’s current need for liquidity. Advance tax payments tie up resources against income that has not yet been generated. This is money that could be directed toward investments, hiring, and working capital. That is why we believe the phasedown must be accelerated and reach 50% within a shorter timeframe.
Those who label every well-documented piece of criticism as “trade unionism” are not protecting the government. On the contrary, they are harming it and doing a disservice to the Prime Minister himself.
The positions you expressed led government officials to publicly state that you had forgotten the role you once played alongside the Prime Minister and were now positioning yourself as a trade unionist. What is your response?
It is irrelevant. Those who label every well-documented piece of criticism as “trade unionism” are not protecting the government. On the contrary, they are harming it and doing a disservice to the Prime Minister himself. I have not forgotten any role. I know very well, however, what my role is today. As President of the country’s largest Chamber of Commerce, I have an institutional obligation to convey clearly to the State the needs and proposals of businesses. At the TIF, there were positive interventions and we acknowledged them. However, there are also serious unresolved issues. My relationship with the Prime Minister is well known. That is precisely why I consider it my duty to be honest. Our role is not to hide the truth, but to call things by their name — especially to a Prime Minister who has demonstrated that he listens.
With energy costs having risen and forecasts pointing to a difficult winter, what government interventions do you consider feasible to mitigate the impact on businesses?
Energy costs have now become a matter of sustainability and competitiveness, particularly for the manufacturing sector and energy-intensive businesses. What is needed are immediate, targeted support measures where the burden threatens production and jobs, based on objective criteria. The permanent solution lies in investments in grids, storage, interconnections, and energy efficiency. Greater self-generation capacity, business energy communities, and long-term supply contracts with competitive terms are all essential. Subsidies can serve as a buffer — but they cannot constitute a permanent energy policy.
Given that the Recovery Fund has concluded, what are your assessments for the next phase, in terms of attracting investment and providing financing to businesses — particularly SMEs? Do the TIF measures address the needs of the current situation?
2027 will be a real test. The available national and European resources for the 2027–2034 period are estimated to potentially exceed €100 billion. This represents a major opportunity, though by no means a guaranteed outcome. The critical question is how many small and medium-sized enterprises will be financed, at what cost, with what collateral, and within what timeframe. Stronger guarantee instruments are needed through the Hellenic Development Bank, along with more alternative financing sources: capital markets, venture capital, private equity, and corporate bonds. The announcement of new financing and guarantee programs through the Hellenic Development Bank is particularly significant. However, the critical issue is the allocation of resources — the real needs of the market must be taken into account. The recent example of the “Business Growth Fund” Portfolio Fund showed us that businesses are desperately in need of liquidity. The liquidity loan axis had a 100% utilization rate, while green co-financed loans and digital upgrade loans had utilization rates of just 9% and 2%, respectively.
How do you assess the logic behind abolishing the business activity levy in regional areas but not in Attica?
Its abolition after 15 full years is absolutely the right move. This is a tax that is levied regardless of whether a business is profitable. However, it is not easy to explain why businesses in Attica specifically should have to wait until 2029 for its complete elimination. An unjust tax carries the same burden whether a business is located in Athens or in the regions.
How do you evaluate the announcements made by Mr. Tsipras and Mr. Androulakis in Thessaloniki regarding entrepreneurship?
The country needs serious, implementable, and fully costed programs — not yet another pre-election competition of handouts. Mr. Androulakis raised real issues, such as private debt, energy costs, and productive reconstruction. However, his proposal for a permanent “windfall profits” taxation mechanism would cause far greater damage to investment attraction than any benefit it might bring. No serious investor commits capital when the state can retroactively decide which profit it considers excessive. High prices are tackled through greater competition, strict enforcement against illegal practices, and the removal of barriers to entry in oligopolistic markets — not through tax threats. Mr. Tsipras’s proposals must also provide convincing answers regarding their cost, fiscal credibility, and above all, how they will boost investment, productivity, and exports.
Putting on a political hat once again, what must the New Democracy government do before the elections to reconnect with small and medium-sized business owners and self-employed professionals? Should there be stronger interventions on issues such as their taxation?
The government must first listen. People in the market are not asking for privileges. They are asking for fair and stable rules. They need a faster reduction of advance tax payments, lower non-wage labor costs, and real access to financing for SMEs. A 120-installment settlement scheme is also needed for debts owed to the State and social security funds, based on viability criteria and with strict exclusion of strategic defaulters. At the same time, we must move as quickly as possible toward offsetting State debts to businesses against businesses’ debts to the State. The goal is to ensure that no viable business is lost due to debts accumulated over successive crises — not to reward non-compliance, whether on the part of businesses or the State. Reconnection will not happen through pre-election giveaways, but when business owners see that the state truly understands what it means to keep a business running.
Published in Money Pro by Parapolitika
