was urged to proceed immediately to the conces-
sion of exploitation rights on new lignite mines, in
accordance with the Commission’s relevant deci-
sion, dated August 4, 2009. In the opposite case,
the Commission would launch infringement pro-
ceedings against Greece before the European
Court of Justice.
Taking into account the central role of environ-
mental protection in government policy, Greece’s
commitments as part of the “20-20-20” rule, and
the national goals regarding the change of the
country’s energy mix by 2020, the government
notified the Commission that it would prefer to
avoid the opening of new lignite mines. In addi-
tion, the possibility of selling PPC stations, espe-
cially under the prevailing adverse economic con-
ditions, was not an option.
Seeking to liberate the energy market “to the ben-
efit of consumers”, an equivalent alternative pro-
posal was prepared and submitted to the
Commission at the end of November. This pro-
posal is based on the following axes:
•
To preserve the value and generating capacity
of the Public Power Corporation (PPC), and,
therefore, to avoid the reduction of the compa-
ny’s shareholder value;
•
To create opportunities for the PPC’s growth
abroad; and
•
To facilitate the entry of third parties in the
wholesale market for lignite-fired power gener-
ation, through the implementation of transpar-
ent procedures and an established market
logic in assuming the business risks emanat-
ing from such activities.
As a result, the European Commission cancelled
the launching of infringement procedures against
Greece, and the DG for Competition initiated dis-
cussions for specifying the proposal.
The discussions conducted up to this date led to
the formation of a framework, which is included in
the proposals submitted to the European
Commission; according to this framework the
PPC will offer Energy Swaps to the international
market. These swaps provide for the exchange of
energy produced by PPC’s lignite-fired stations
with an amount of energy of equal value from
other EU member-state producers. The first such
swaps are scheduled to take place in 2012.
More specifically, the swaps are divided into two
categories, based on the type of PPC power-gen-
erating units. The first category will involve ener-
gy from units that are scheduled to be operating
up to 2020, in accordance with the national plan
for decommissioning polluting power stations
Monetary Fund (the “Troika”), certain possibilities
were examined in regard to the further opening of
the Greek lignite-fired power generation market,
on the basis of the decisions reached by the
Commission in 2008 and 2009. Among others, it
was suggested to organize tenders for the con-
cession of exploitation rights on new lignite
deposits (based on an initiative of the previous
government), and to sell PPC-owned lignite-fired
power stations to third parties.
Moreover, as part of the correspondence between
the Ministry and the Commission’s DG for
Competition in regard to Greek lignite, Greece
Trade with Greece
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