Troika-sponsored power sector privatisation leaves Greece in the dark | EurActiv
Parts of Greece were hit by power cuts yesterday evening (3 July)
after electricity workers began one of a series of 48-hour strikes
against government plans to sell off part of the country's biggest power
producer.
Some Athens districts, remote villages in the island of Crete, and
areas in the north and south had their power cut for up to an hour
during peak evening demand times, after 13 power stations were taken off
line late on Wednesday, an official at power distribution agency DEDDIE
said.
Earlier, the grid operator declared a state of emergency, citing a significant reduction of power output.
Liberalising the energy sector is a key condition under Greece's
€240-billion bailout by the European Union and the International
Monetary Fund and parliament is debating a bill that would allow the
government to privatise the Public Power Corporation (PPC) in 2015 by
spinning off 30%.
Unions say electricity is a public good that should remain under
state control, and some 800 PCC workers rallied outside company
headquarters in central Athens and then marched to the finance ministry
against the privatisation.
Anti-austerity strike, Athens. [Odysseas Gp/Flickr]
