Greek ministries disagree over ports privatisation
Athens: The new Greek government has been sending mixed signals over what is to happen to the Piraeus and Thessaloniki port privatisations, which have currently been postponed.
A senior Finance Ministry source yesterday told Greek paper Ekathimerini that it was in favour of privatising Piraeus Port Authority and said it must be encouraged.
Meanwhile, Theodoris Dritsas, deputy minister for shipping told parliament yesterday: “We have already announced our commitment to stop the privatisation of Piraeus Port Authority and Thessaloniki Port Authority to preserve the public character of the country’s ports.”
The debate must be reopened on the emergence of Piraeus as a shipping centre, and the necessary conditions of how that may be done, Dritsas said yesterday.
Both privatisation projects and that of state train operator Trainose are currently being “reassessed” by the new government, which last week said it does not intend to cancel the projects.