One of the first acts of the new left-wing government of Greece is to freeze plans for the privatization of the country’s Public Power Corp. (PPC), the dominant energy provider known to Greeks as DEI. “We will immediately halt the privatization of the PPC,” said Productive Reform, Environment and Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis in statements made to private TV channels, SKAI and MEGA.

“It will be the new PPC that will help in the country’s efforts for productive reconstruction,” he told MEGA.

This overturns the plans of the previous government that had passed legislation last year to spin-off part of the PPC and privatize it in efforts to liberalize the energy market. Asked about what this means for the 2015 budget that had included funds from liberalization, Lafazanis said that other privatizations had fallen through in the past and that various funds that had not been yielded have also been included. “The matter is not whether we would sell PPC to put something in the budget, because this type of revenue comes at a hefty price,” he stressed.

Lafazanis also announced free power for vulnerable groups. “We will try to make power cheaper and, in this way, tone competitiveness and help households,” he said, speaking to SKAI.

Asked if these type of decisions would cause problems with Greece’s European Union partners, Lafazanis clarified that the Greek government answers only to the Greek people and honors their struggle and vote.

Port Privatization Cancelled
The new government’s Alternate Minister for Shipping, Thodoris Dritsas, announced the cancellation of the privatization of the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP). He stated that “the public character of the port will be maintained. The OLP sell-off stops here.” He said that the state privatization fund (TAIPED) would suspend the process for the sale of the majority stake in OLP. First indications show that the future of TAIPED looks ominous.