Greece: Emerging from the legacy of the debt crisis (part 1)

Europe now

France Médias Monde

News & Politics

2.2 • 5 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2022

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

FRANCE 24's Europe team brings you a new series of Europe Now programmes, focusing on "levelling up" – efforts aimed at making life more equal across Europe's many and diverse regions. We examine both national efforts to level up, and the role that EU funding plays in those attempts. EU structural and cohesion funds have become even more important in the light of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis, which threatens to increase unequal living standards around Europe.

For this first programme, we travel to Greece, a country still struggling with the legacy of the 2010 debt crisis and years of austerity measures. In this first part of the show, we focus on the country's public health system, by speaking to health expert Thanos Myloneros as well as Niki Dandolou, Special Secretary for EU Social Fund programmes, about EU financing and the Covid-19 crisis in particular.

Our reporter Luke Brown visits the Greek islands and rural Italy for a pan-European view of healthcare issues supported by EU funds, while Sophie Samaille explains just what exactly EU cohesion funds do.

Show presented by Armen Georgian, produced by Johan Bodin, filmed on location by Johan Bodin and Stéphane Bodenne, with Luke Brown.

>> Watch part two of the show

_{^{Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the DG Regional and Urban Policy. Neither the European Union nor the DG Regional and Urban Policy can be held responsible for them.}}

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm going to be.
0:03.0	The Hello and welcome to a new series of Europe now programs here on France 24.
0:36.6	In the last few years, the European Union has
0:39.1	faced a whole set of unexpected challenges leading to unprecedented solutions, from the COVID
0:46.2	pandemic and recovery to war in Ukraine and the knock-on effect on rising fuel prices and food prices
0:53.1	across the continent. In this series of programs, our Europe team looks at how the European Union and its members
0:59.9	are confronting these challenges, particularly via that part of the EU budget, which has aimed
1:06.0	at leveling up the EU's many and diverse regions. For this first program, we're in Greece, a country that is still feeling the after-effects
1:16.1	of the debt crisis more than a decade ago and years of austerity measures.
1:21.7	But to understand exactly what EU funds, particularly these EU cohesion funds, are doing in
1:26.9	Greece, here's an explainer by our own Sophie Samai. what EU funds, particularly these EU cohesion funds are doing in Greece.
1:30.6	Here's an explainer by our own Sophie Samai.
1:33.5	Cohesion, what is it?
1:37.6	The economic, social and territorial situation is very different in each of the 242 regions that make up the European Union.
1:42.6	The main objective of cohesion policy is to reduce these sometimes considerable
1:47.0	discrepancies by financing projects to stimulate economic growth, job creation and competitiveness.
1:54.0	Between 2014 and 2020, 1 million businesses have been helped by these cohesion funds.
2:01.6	Health and education are also at the heart of investments.
2:05.6	In 2018, for example, the e-schools project provided interactive classrooms to 151 schools in Croatia.
2:13.6	If you see one of these symbols next to a European flag on a building or a sign,
2:19.4	it was financed by one of the Cohesion Funds. The European Regional Development Fund invest in the
2:25.3	development of all regions of the EU. The Cohesion Fund supports the environment and transport
	...

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