The shortages created in critical sectors during the pandemic by the operation of global value chains and especially by the successively increasing competition between the ‘collective West’ and China (but gradually also with the rest of BRICS+) and now open military confrontation with Russia, are rapidly moving the world of 2022-23 away from that of 2010 and even 2015.
There are great differences, which, apart from the re-emerging risks to international peace, security and prosperity, create new opportunities for countries such as Greece from the already emerging trend of returning investments and producing critical goods by and for Western countries, or at least those friendlier to it. However, in order for the country to be able to seize these opportunities and move away to some extent from the development impasse in which it is trapped, we must create the right conditions. In other words, to have an effective state mechanism; to have the conditions for exercising industrial policy; to know what we must and can do in order to strengthen the advantages in sectors that are already strong (e.g. agri-food, tourism); but especially to give weight to others that can put us on a dynamic growth path. Here we will refer to sectors where the West’s tendency to ‘return to safety’ creates the prerequisites for their re-emergence and growth. To this end, it is important to form internal socioeconomic and international alliances to address in a coordinated manner broader issues that so far largely define the framework and place constraints on our strategic actions (e.g. state aid restrictions) especially inside EU.
In order to develop the above argument, the possibility of re-establishing the shipbuilding industry in Greece will be used as an example.
* Report synopsis by
Dimosthenis Georgopoulos, Economist – Sociologist & Lois Labrianidis, Economic geographer, Professor University of Macedonia, member of the ENA Advisory Board, former General Secretary of Private Investments Ministry of Economy & Development
