Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Tina Birbili yesterday categorically ruled out the possibility of the debt-ridden government selling a huge chunk of the Public Power Corporation’s (PPC) production facilities as part of a liberalization program aimed at improving competitiveness.
Emerging from a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos and several other high-ranking ministers including Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou, Birbili told reporters that the government had reassured unions and employers that “there are no plans to sell.” Birbili added that the government had managed to convince its international creditors to give it an extension until the end of this year to finalize its proposal for deregulating the energy market. Unionists representing PPC workers have been militant in their opposition to a possible sell-off of the company’s power plants, threatening wide-scale and long-term action if such deals go ahead.