Hatzidakis

Public consultations began on Wednesday on a new bill introduced by the Environment Ministry that seeks to modernize environmental legislation.

The bill will change regulations regarding land uses, environmental licensing and the management of protected areas.

Greece must take immediate action to place restrictions on the issuing of licenses for strategic investments and the development of public land that bypass existing zoning regulations as they pose a serious risk to the environment, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned in its Environmental Performance Review of the country.

In the next few days the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE) is expected to submit a demand to the Energy Ministry and the Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) for the extraordinary revision of the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) - which will mean power rate hikes for consumers - after realizing that the reduction of corporate tax from 29 to 24 percent will have an impact o

Greek shares dropped 6 percent on Monday after a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in neighbouring Italy, analysts said.

"The country's proximity to Italy has clearly triggered some concern," Manos Hatzidakis, analyst at Athens-based Beta Securities, told Reuters.

Greece will kick off the sale of a minority stake in power distribution operator HEDNO in September, Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Friday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the signing of a loan agreement between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and PPC, Hatzidakis told reporters that the sale process for a 49% stake will begin in September.

During a visit to Ptolemaida, northwestern Greece, over the weekend, Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis announced a number of measures to ease the blow to the region from the withdrawal of lignite-fueled power production units.

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will be heading to Paris on Tuesday on an official two-day visit to participate in an investment forum and attend an official dinner hosted by French senators in honor of the Greek delegation.

Hundreds of miners gathered outside Parliament in downtown Athens on Saturday to protest plans to liquidate and sell state-owned ferronickel production firm Larco. The European Commission in November said that it was taking Greece to the European Court of Justice over its failure to recover 135.8 million euros of illegal state aid to the company.

The Greek government is considering incentives to promote the use of electric cars and natural gas in transport, along with expanding the use of biofuel, as part of its actions to reduce emissions, Environment and Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Monday. 

The construction sector is turning its attention to investment-bolstering projects that the government appears to be placing major emphasis on in 2020.

Construction firms hope that those tenders will offer additional turnover that could top 1.5-2 billion euros in the next few years.