Greece has been granted €19 billion by the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF- or ESPA in Greek) for the period spanning 2014-2020, but some media reports have suggested that the country’s struggling private sector will have little to gain.  
According to a report in the Kouti tis Pandoras news site, 9 out of 10 businesses are not eligible for the funds as the rules governing the NSRF stipulate, among other things,  that only profitable businesses over the last three years are eligible.

The main beneficiaries of these funds are manufacturing, tourism, energy and the agricultural/food industry but, according to the site, Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece’s largest and most populous cities will receive just a trickle . “These (programmes) concern very few (businesses) with the danger that another party of corruption and favouritism will take place with minor benefits to the economy,” the site said.

Among the programmes left out of the NSRF were the much touted projects to revamp Faliro bay and the pedestrianisation of central Panepistimiou avenue, which were reportedly considered unnecessary  ‘decorative projects’.

The goal of the NSRF is to reduce regional disparities in terms of income, wealth and opportunities. Recipients of these funds are the EU’s poorest regions, but all regions are eligible for funding under the policy's various funds and programmes. The current Regional Policy framework is set for a period of seven years, from 2014 to 2020.

Since 1980 Greece has received EU funds under va amounting to roughly €200 bln under various EU subsidy programmes, but according to Kouti tis Pandoras, corruption and mismanagement have limited the impact on the country’s economy. “Bad planning and management and fraud….have had limited benefits for the economy,” the site said, bemoaning the fact that no serious effort had been undertaken to examine how these funds were managed over the past decades.”