Market structure

The current year budget is an operating not a development one, and it completely lacks the human perspective, chairwoman of the Competitiveness Initiative (INACO) Andreea Paul stated in a debate about the budget on Tuesday. "The human perspective is completely missing from this solely operating budget.

The Government will modify the electricity and natural gas law after January 15, Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said on Tuesday, to establish exactly how the liberalization of the market will take place. "They have a regulated customer base of 6 million for which they never paid.

The future of troubled nickel company Larco depends on the success of the complex undertaking of its privatization, which will start immediately.

Public Power Corporation (PPC) has just launched its double-play offerings to domestic and professional customers, penetrating the natural gas market for their first time.

Food delivery is a 1.5-billion-euro business in Greece. Of that, online orders account for 20 percent of the market, or 300 million euros.

The online delivery business is an oligopoly. The market is currently controlled by two businesses, the German-based Online Delivery and the Patra, Greece-based Delivery.

First, the good news: The government is on a mission to brief our eurozone partners, the other European Union members and our creditors on its plans to boost growth and its intentions to fast-forward long-stagnant reforms by cutting back on excessive spending and pushing privatizations, and then, and only then, present its demands.

US companies are are keeping a close eye on planned privatizations of ports and other opportunities in the energy and technology sectors, US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, said on Friday.

Looking back at the politics of economic transformation, and especially at the privatization of state-owned enterprises, the process was highly politicized and non-transparent. It was accompanied by corruption scandals, clientelism and ethnic-political struggles, characterised by the distribution of power according to the ethnic divisions in the country.

Ever since the advent of the neo-liberal agenda in the early 1980s, privatization has been presented as a panacea for all economic problems. Proponents have consistently talked about the benefits of reducing government size and personnel to ease the burden on national budgets and improve the overall economy.

History is repeating itself. Yet another Greek government has decided to stop every reform - or stop pretending it is implementing any reforms - and start handing out benefits.

Greek state officials have effectively put their pencils down and nothing is happening. 

Privatizations have frozen, and any big symbolic moves have been put on hold.