Greece to roman road

Everyone followed Crown Prince Constantine and filed into the conference room.

In front of the square table in the spacious conference room, Constantine and Prime Minister Venizelos sat at both ends, while the others took their seats in order of priority.

"Everyone here, in addition to senior officials from the Greek government, as well as elites from the Greek business community, have already made speculations about the purpose of this economic conference." As the convener and host of the conference, Constant Ding first explained the content of the meeting to everyone.

"With the end of the war, Greece's northern border has been under severe national defense pressure. The entire country's attention and energy are focused on military and war, and there is no time to take into account too many economic matters."

“Aside from the progressive tax reform that the government successfully carried out on taxation a few years ago, very little has been achieved.”

"After the war of 1913, Greece is liberated from the heavy land military threat, and we will have a period of peace."

"However, the clouds of war currently hanging over the entire Europe are becoming more and more gloomy. The entire Europe is divided into two major military groups: the Entente Powers headed by France and Russia (Britain has not explicitly joined the Allied Powers Group) and the Allied Powers Group headed by Germany, Austria and Italy."

After hearing Constantine's introduction to the current tense political and diplomatic situation in Europe, everyone present sat upright, with serious faces, and looked concerned and rigorous.

"The situation competition between the two major military groups is in full swing. Among them, the warship competition between Britain and Germany has consumed huge funds from both countries. From a military point of view, when one party cannot maintain its status due to financial pressure, When spending money on ships, in order to prevent the fleets of both sides from further increasing their strength and the situation from deteriorating further, starting a war immediately becomes the best option for the weaker side."

In order to reduce the pressure on the government in the following meeting, Constantine first vaccinated everyone.

This is not entirely an alarmist statement by Constantine. In fact, an arms race between countries can easily turn into a war, unless a more powerful third country uses its own strength as a guarantee for strong mediation.

"Once a war breaks out in Europe, Greece will immediately face the problem of taking sides."

"The Greek government must also take advantage of this period to quickly carry out financial reforms. Our time is also very tight."

Having said that, Constantine pointed his eyes at Prime Minister Venizelos opposite.

The knowing Venizelos immediately stopped talking and said: "As Crown Prince Constantine said, since Greece was founded, it has been under threat, and the entire country's energy has been used to deal with the threat of war."

"Greece's economy has always been in a state of barbaric growth, and the government rarely interferes in the operation of the economy."

"Today, many shortcomings have been revealed. Recently, the whole of Greece has been in an uproar. The highly controversial national debt incident is the most typical representative."

"In addition, the current economic situation in Greece also determines that we must make changes."

"The level of industrialization in Greece is very low. Currently, processing of supplied materials, which plays an important role in the Greek economy, has come to an end. Greece imports a large amount of industrial raw materials from overseas, and its main export products are also low-grade industrial products with very low added value."

"Correspondingly, in addition to the need for a large amount of imported industrial raw materials in Greece, most of the machines used by enterprises in production are basically imported from abroad."

“Greece’s status in the international industrial division of labor chain is low, no more than an industrial dumping ground.”

"The cost of purchasing machines in Greece may be higher than the total profit of the primary industrial products produced by these machines during their life cycle. That is to say, from a macro level, the economic benefits of many of our enterprises are negative."

"The government's plan is to carry out reforms and rectification in the field of financial order so that the Greek capital market can better serve the real economy and promote industrial upgrading."

The acquisition of the Congolese colony has greatly promoted the Greek economy, benefiting almost all enterprises, and the Greek capital market will also develop significantly.

According to the report of Congo Governor Banning, since Greece acquired Congo, the net income gained by the Greek industrial and commercial circles from Congo has been no less than 2.5 billion drachmas.

It is precisely because of the large amount of funds accumulated in Greek society that the government's issuance of national debt during the war was so smooth.

It was the national debt issue that raised hundreds of millions of drachmas for huge war funds in just a few months, and Greek domestic capital entered Constantine's field of vision, making Constantine aware of the strength of Greek capital.

After Constantine discussed with Prime Minister Venizelos, Venizelos, who was worried about the industrial upgrading of Greece, was extremely happy. The two hit it off and decided to regulate Greece's domestic finance and use Greek domestic capital to promote industrial upgrading as much as possible. .

Hearing that the government planned to carry out such a major reform in the economic field, the business people in the conference room suddenly exploded. After all, this was related to their vital interests, so they had no choice but to not care.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I think there is no need for the government to get involved in the field of financial order. This is gross interference with the market economy." Georges took the lead in attacking the government's plan.

Greece's current economic policy follows the example of the United Kingdom, which is a typical market economy and advocates small government: the government should try not to interfere with the operation of the economy and regulate as little as possible. It is best not to regulate anything, and the market will automatically adjust and operate.

"Yes, Greek society has always admired Britain and the United States. Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations is very good. The invisible hand allocates resources more efficiently. The government's crude interference in the economy is undoubtedly a blasphemy and insult to the market economy."

The book "The Wealth of Nations" laid the theoretical foundation for the capitalist free economy and is highly praised by many in the Western world. It is the first book in the world to tell the history of industrial development and commercial development. It provides the basis for free trade and capitalism in the current economy. It provides a theoretical foundation and has a crucial influence on the development of capitalism.

The views of The Wealth of Nations not only influenced later theorists, but also influenced the legislation and government policies of European countries at that time.

Now when the Greek Parliament debates or discusses draft laws, members often quote sentences from "The Wealth of Nations", and once quoted, most opponents do not refute them.

Some countries use the book's basic ideas as a basis when formulating policies. Smith's views on opposing government interference in business and commercial affairs and favoring low tariffs and free trade had a decisive influence on government policies in the 19th century.

The impact of these policies is well known in the 21st century, and their influence is still being felt.

Constantine and Venizelos looked at each other, not surprised by the strong opposition from business people.

After all, the economic field has always been a restricted area under government management. Capital tycoons and Greek business people are like free and unrestrained wild horses on the grassland. Now that someone suddenly puts a saddle on them, it will naturally arouse their strong resistance.

Just like Georges himself, he has a huge influence on the stock exchange market and is privately called the King of the Exchange.

Georges himself relied on such a position to gain countless benefits. The national debt project had just been successfully implemented and he made a huge profit.

Now the government suddenly plans to rectify the financial sector and reform the economy, and the purpose is very obvious. It targets the Athens Stock Exchange and wants to strengthen regulatory measures for securities transactions.

If the government's plan succeeds, his good days may be over.