Greece for sale -- New Internationalist

Greece for sale -- New Internationalist

Greece for sale

The selling off of the country’s valuable assets is a blow to democracy, argues Nick Dearden.


I've just had a look at the latest privatization plan for Greece.
It's been issued by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund – the
vehicle supervised by the European institutions, which has been tasked
with selling off an eye-watering $55 billion of Greece's ‘valuable
assets’.


The fund was a real sticking point because the European institutions
wanted to move it to Luxembourg, where they could keep a better eye on
it. Anyhow, it's still in Athens, and this document, dated 30 July,
details the goodies on sale to international investors who fancy buying
up some of the country.


We've attached it to this blog
to give a flavour of what’s up for grabs at the moment. Fourteen
regional airports, flying into top tourist hubs, have already gone to a
German company; but don’t panic, because stock in Athens airport is
still on the table, as well as Athens' old airport, which is up for a
99-year lease for redevelopment as a tourism and business centre.


Piraeus and Thessaloniki ports are up for sale – the former case has
caused the chief executive to resign and industrial action has begun. A
gas transmission system looks likely to be sold to the government of
Azerbaijan but there’s still a power and electricity company, the postal
service, a transport utility which allows trains and buses to run, the
country’s main telecommunications company, a 648-kilometre motorway, and
a significant holding in the leading oil refinery, which covers
approximately two-thirds of the country’s refining capacity.


Holdings in Thessaloniki and Athens water are both on sale – though
public protest has ensured that 50% plus 1 share remains in state hands.
Nonetheless, the sale will mean that market logic will dictate the
future of these water and sewerage monopolies. Finally, there are
pockets of land, including tourist and sports developments, throughout
Greece.


A second document, also linked,
details the short-term work programme of various government ministers,
detailing actions they must take in order to add value to these assets.
This includes introducing toll booths on roads to licensing casino
rights to declaring sites of archaeological interest. The document begs
the question: why government ministers are even needed? It would surely
be easier to cut them out of the equation altogether and let European
Union (EU) institutions directly administer the country.

Privatization of Greece's port of Piraeus is moving forward.
Nikolaos Diakidis under a Creative Commons Licence