Greece's new bailout plan will help the country avoid a debt default in the short term but will do nothing to cut debt or grow the economy, according to an Italian scholar.

"The agreement has no chance of providing a solution in the long term, and most economists in Italy agree," Filippomaria Pontani, a Greek culture professor at Venice's Ca' Foscari University, told Xinhua in an interview.

"The bailout plan has certainly avoided a big problem, which would be the default of a European country. But I am convinced such trouble is just being postponed again, as has already happened. In fact, in 2010, Greek politicians already claimed the country had overcome its crisis," Pontani said.

He said the real Greek problem, which was very similar to the Italy's because the two had a similar history and society, was structural and inherently bound to the short-sighted European Union (EU) policies.

He said a stagnant economy, which hampered these countries' growth and increased their public debt, could not be cured by "kicking the can down the road."

"The 130-billion-euro (172-billion-US dollar) plan will allow Greece to pay off its debts, but everybody knows the country will not be able to achieve a significant budget surplus in the next few years as expected by the EU," Pontani said, adding that he was surprised to see Italy praising the new bailout without apparently considering the "extremely uncertain" future.

"The situation is very serious. I personally know ordinary Greek citizens who cannot even afford to buy medicines, and I begin to fear their situation will worsen, risking knock-on effects on other EU members, such as Italy," he said.