Business and investment climate in Greece and Cyprus: licensing, incentives and EU funding (October 2026)

This note maps institutions and frameworks. It does not assess whether any project qualifies for anything.

Greece#

Institutions#

• Enterprise Greece. The state agency for investment and trade promotion (the "Invest in Greece" function). It supports applications under the strategic investments framework: enterprisegreece.gov.gr.
• Ministry of Development, General Secretariat for Private Investments. Runs the Development Law calls and strategic-investment licensing: investment portal.
• Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ). Laws and ministerial decisions take legal effect when published here: et.gr. Draft laws usually go through public consultation on opengov.gr first.

Licensing and incentive frameworks#

• Strategic investments (Law 4864/2021). The Interministerial Committee for Strategic Investments classifies qualifying projects. Licensing is then coordinated centrally (Enterprise Greece legal framework). Article 9 of the law sets a 45-calendar-day deadline for each permit once a complete file is submitted. If the deadline passes, competence moves to the Minister of Development (law text, Greek PDF).
• Development Law 4887/2022. Thematic aid schemes offering tax exemptions, grants, leasing subsidies and employment-cost subsidies. Four 2026 calls had €150m each. Three closed on 30 June 2026, and the agri-food call is open until 30 November 2026 (call list). Details are in the Development Law note.
• Sector rules. Tourism accommodation, short-term rentals and residency-by-investment have their own rules. See the short-term rental rules note and the residency-by-investment note.
• Tax parameters. See the tax overview.

EU funding: Greece 2.0 (Recovery and Resilience Facility)#

• Final requests. On 29 September 2026, Greece submitted its final RRF payment requests: the 9th grant request and the 8th loan request. They cover 123 milestones and targets and €6.75bn (€4.4bn in grants and €2.35bn in loans) (Greece 2.0).
• Earlier requests. Two previous requests worth €4.55bn were still under assessment at that point.
• Allocation. The government states the total allocation is €35.95bn and that 376 milestones and targets have been achieved.
• Deadline. Article 24(1) of Regulation (EU) 2021/241 requires RRF payments to be made by 31 December 2026. Final disbursement depends on the European Commission's assessment of the requests (Commission RRF annual report 2026).

Investment flows (data)#

Bank of Greece data show net direct-investment inflows of €7.6bn in January–July 2026 (see the macro snapshot). The data sources note explains where to find real-estate FDI series.

Cyprus#

• Invest Cyprus. The national investment promotion agency: investcyprus.org.cy.
• Residency by investment. Regulation 6(2) criteria require a €300,000 qualifying investment. See the residency-by-investment note.
• Tax framework. A tax reform applies from 1 January 2026. It includes a 15% corporate income tax rate and the abolition of stamp duty (gov.cy tax reform). See the tax overview.
• Legislation. Statutes are on CyLaw. The Official Gazette is authoritative.
• Macro and property data. See the Cyprus snapshot.

Sources#

• Enterprise Greece
• Enterprise Greece: strategic investments legal framework
• Law 4864/2021 (Greek PDF)
• Ministry of Development: calls for investors
• Greece 2.0: final RRF payment requests
• EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2021/241 establishing the RRF
• European Commission: RRF annual report 2026
• Invest Cyprus
• gov.cy: tax reform, business measures (Greek)
• Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ)
• CyLaw