Follow Greece Investment Immigration and Greece Economy news: According to reports on the morning of December 17, Beijing time, the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, announced on Monday that it has approved the disbursement of €3 billion ($4.1 billion) in aid to Greece to assist in the construction of four major highways.
Due to the severe debt crisis plaguing Greece, which led to massive budget cuts, the construction of several highways had been stalled for years. Johannes Hahn, the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, noted that this investment is "focused on the country's economic recovery" and expects the highway construction projects to create 6,000 jobs. Of these, 1,700 positions will be long-term management-related roles following the completion of the highway construction by the end of 2015.
Johannes Hahn stated that the highways are an integral part of the Trans-European Transport Network and are essential for creating a single market for goods in Europe.
The EU decided to release this aid after the Greek Parliament voted last week to restart these four projects. Most of the new construction projects are located in the western part of the Greek mainland and the southern Peloponnese peninsula, and will connect multiple cities to the country's road system.
The Greek government stated that these projects will fully restart in early 2014 and will provide a significant boost to the economy that year. Many economic forecasters believe that after six years of severe recession, the Greek economy will return to growth in 2014.