Stathakis changes his rhetoric on public control of PPC

Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis arrived on Friday in Kozani, northwestern Greece.

He was without Public Power Corporation chief executive Manolis Panagiotakis - illustrating the internal unrest within SYRIZA that the planned part-privatization of PPC is generating - and without any arguments to support the government's position against the state relinquishing control of the power giant.

Visiting the lignite mine at Notio Pedio (pictured), Stathakis replaced his usual guarantees for "the public character of PPC" with those for "the broader public interest."