EU economy

To help businesses prepare, Greece’s Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) has issued an informational bulletin outlining the upcoming changes.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to pause sweeping tariffs for most countries, calling it “an important step towards stabilizing the global economy.”

Following Greece, Italy ranks second with an informal economy comprising 31% of its GDP, while Spain and Portugal both register at 24%. Lithuania, Latvia, and Bulgaria each report a shadow economy size of 20%.

Navigating between the two global powers increasingly looks like walking a tightrope for Europe

However, several countries experienced significant declines, with Greece leading the list down by 16%, followed by Estonia, Latvia, Spain, and Sweden.

Cumulative exports during this timeframe reached 137.2 billion euros, up by 3% from 2023 levels, while imports rose by 2% to 97.5 billion euros.