referred to the European Court of Justice, surely
to be condemned as the only European country
that had not liberalized this sector).
In the State organizations’ sector, the critical
areas included railway transport (the Hellenic
Railways Organization [OSE] group, and EDISY,
TRAINOSE, GAIAOSE, ERGOSE), urban trans-
port (OASA, ETHEL, ILPAP, AMEL, ISAP, TRAM)
and airports and aviation (Civil Aviation Authority
— CAA).
In railways, Greece failed to comply with EU leg-
islation, i.e. it did not implement the provisions of
the railway package and had not established the
Railway Regulatory Authority, while the accumu-
lated debt of the OSE group stood at €10 billion
and its deficit run at approximately €1 billion per
annum. In other words, the situation was, more or
less, tragic.
In the Athens Urban Transport Organization
(OASA), its five transport operators, along with
OASA, comprised a whole that was very difficult
to coordinate, and whose accumulated debt stood
at almost €3.5 billion, with annual deficits of
almost €700 million.
There were also major dysfunctions in other key
areas (e.g. the non enactment of law 3333/2005
on logistics centres, oligopolies, such as that
regarding the use of gas fuels in automobiles etc.)
The structural changes
Reforms in all areas of intervention aimed at:
•
mergers, rationalizing operating costs and
ensuring viability;
•
streamlining operations and working relations,
and alignment with best European practice;
•
compliance with EU requirements-regulations;
and
•
establishing the prerequisites for opening the
markets.
Key growth initiatives
The Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and
Networks has, in just one year, presented a set of
complete reforms for the reorganization, restruc-
turing and development of key links in the trans-
port chain, such as
•
railways
•
urban transport
•
and airports.
The reforms are designed to:
•
lead to mergers between operators and, con-
sequently, to the rationalization of their operat-
ing cost;
•
ensure the sustainability of the transport sys-
tem and the operators that comprise it, empha-
sizing on contemporary needs;
•
streamline operations and reform working rela-
tions, on the basis of best European practice;
and
•
ensure alignment with European regulations
regarding the preconditions for opening the
transport market.
Comprehensively dealing with
problems
The reforms introduced by the Ministry were not
mere theoretical designs, but were approached
with the aim of comprehensively dealing with
chronic problems and impediments to the organi-
zations’ growth, and for this reason they were
supported by a series of accompanying measures
such as:
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