Trade with Greece
43
H
owever, despite the fact that the
Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis,
has sent a letter to Greece’s lenders,
reassuring them that there will be no repeals of
privatizations that have already been concluded
or are still underway, there are certain ministers
within the government who insist that the deals
should be cancelled.
In the official letter sent by Yanis Varoufakis to
Greece’s international creditors, the government
pledges that there will be no reversal of privatisa-
tions that have already been concluded and no
unwarranted obstacles to the conclusion of those
that are currently in the tendering process, such
as the Egnatia Highway, the Athens International
Airport, the Public Power Corporation, Hellenic
Post, and the securitisation of state property.
In his letter to the Eurogroup, the Finance
Minister stresses that:
“To attract investment in key sectors and utilize
the state’s assets efficiently, the Greek authorities
will: Commit not to roll back privatizations that
have been completed. Where the tender process
has been launched the government will respect
the process, according to the law.”
The above passage is accompanied by a com-
mitment that the government will “safeguard the
provision of basic public goods and services by
privatized firms/industries in line with national pol-
icy goals and in compliance with EU legislation,”
a rather vague statement that has evidently been
added to the text in order to offer the Greek side
enough elbow room for renegotiating the terms of
the tenders, since it is obvious that the govern-
ment attempts to renegotiate certain deals, such
as those concerning the site of the former airport
of Hellenikon or the regional airports.
The question, however, is which model will be
used for the utilization of state assets. The plan-
ning of the new government suggests that each
case will be evaluated on an
ad hoc
basis, in the
context of either intergovernmental agreements
or concession arrangements.
Things are also unclear in regard to the fate of the
Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund
(HRADF), as the original intention of the govern-
ment was to abolish it, with the competent deputy
Minister Nadia Valavani asking for the resignation
of its Board of Directors, only to recant until fur-
ther notice. According to the latest official state-
ment, the HRADF would be merged with all simi-
lar organisations and companies responsible for
the development of state properties, such as the
Public Properties Company (PPCo S.A.), while, a
few days ago, the government decided to put on
hold all ongoing privatization tenders, such as
those for the Piraeus and Thessaloniki Port
Authorities (OLP and OLth) and TRAINOSE.
It should be reminded that most of the assets
included in the Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy pro-
gramme had been transferred to the HRADF and
were classified in three sub-categories: Land
Development, Infrastructure and Corporate.
The HRADF is currently in control of 867 proper-
ties and 49 holdings in state companies. The
most important of these holdings include a 35.5%
stake in Hellenic Petroleum, 17% of the PPC (the
Greek state holds 34% of the company), 74% of
OLP and OLTh (and 100% in ten other ports),
30% of the Athens International Airport (the state
controls another 25%), 27% of the Athens Water
Supply and Sewerage Company (EYDAP —
another 10% held by the state), 74% of the
