Interview: Greece needs solid plan to develop industries: Greek scholar

The proposals made by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in talks with global creditors did not include a solid plan to revive the country's troubled economy and the Greek government should know such a plan is crucial for the country's future, an expert had said.

Pietro Paganini, professor at John Cabot University in Rome, made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua while the Eurogroup had a weekend meeting in Brussels on Greece's debt crisis.

The proposals put forward by Tsipras focused on pension cuts, higher taxes, etc, but not on how to revive the economy, Paganini said, adding that without such a plan, Greece would not be able to build modern industries but have to continue the heavy reliance on tourist income.

The proposals discussed at Saturday's eurogroup meeting aim to attract a new credit of at least 50 billion euros (55.8 U.S. dollars) for Greece to "survive" the debt crisis but will not help it become a modern and competitive country, he said.

Paganini said he has many doubts on the proposed measures. For example, the Greek pension funds are unsustainable, so the proposal to raise retirement age to 67 and penalties to put people off taking early retirement are positive factors but "unfortunately such measures will not be implemented until 2022," the Rome-based professor said.

Similarly, the proposed "solidarity tax" on ship owners could bring short-term gains for national coffer but will potentially harm the industry that serves as a pillar for the Greek economy.

There are also vague points like the fight against tax evasion. "It's not clear how they are going to fight tax evasion because it's quite difficult to tally the informal economy without a strong legislation and a cultural change," Paganini noted.

According to the professor, the current Greek government does not have confidence in its action but it is only obliged to take some emergency measures. "The risk is very high that these reforms will not be implemented, I think," he said.

After months of tough negotiations, eurozone finance ministers gathered in Brussels on Saturday afternoon with expectations to seal a deal on Greece's bailout program, but doubts on Greece's implementation of the reform measures hiked.

The crucial meeting was widely seen as a "decisive moment" for Greece's fate: either a bailout deal or Greece's exit from the European common currency zone.

Without a debt deal in the coming hours, Greece faces a financial collapse and a Grexit. Greek banks have been closed for the past two weeks and are running out of cash while the country's economy is suffering from capital controls.

Besides, Greece has been in arrears to the IMF since July 1 and faces a 3.5-billion-euro (3.9-billion-Dollar) debt repayment to the European Central Bank on July 20. Endi