Meliti

The union of Public Power Corporation workers (GENOP) announced on Thursday that it plans to send letters against the sale of the company's four coal-fired plants to the six candidate buyers, as well as referring the case to the Council of State and the European Court of Justice. Its action is backed by municipal and regional authorities in Western Macedonia.

PPC is seeking as great a participation as possible in the process for the sale of the lignite-powered units at Florina (Meliti) and Megalopoli to maximize the price it will receive for them.

Parliament started on Friday to debate the bill for the concession of Public Power Corporation's lignite units at Meliti and Megalopoli, with reactions both inside and outside the House, PPC chief Manolis Panagiotakis expressing disagreement on labor regulations, and grid operator ADMIE's worries about the system's stability during industrial action against the sale.

The bill that the Energy Ministry has prepared for the concession of power production units belonging to Public Power Corporation, which Kathimerini has seen, provides for securing the jobs of workers at the lignite-fired units for at least six years, but on different contracts to those of PPC proper.

Nine PPC power units, including the lignite plants for sale at Megalopoli and Meliti, do not have the necessary environmental permits, a parliamentary question by opposition lawmakers revealed on Thursday.

The Energy Ministry is now looking for a last-minute solution to avert the collapse of the divestment project.

The deal with the country's creditors concerning the sale of Public Power Corporation's lignite units is definitively sealed, and on Friday the two sides will formally confirm it. Now Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis has to manage the front that has opened with the PPC union (GENOP) and the local communities of Florina and Megalopoli.

The Energy Ministry has chosen to prolong its negotiations with the European Commission regarding the list of Public Power Corporation units that should go on sale, due to an ongoing disagreement.

On Wednesday in Brussels Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis sought the intervention of European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici on three thorny issues ahead of Greece's third bailout review.

Facing pressure from Brussels for the sale of some of Public Power Corporation's most precious electricity plants, the Greek government is hoping that a market test later this fall will be successful enough to avert the concession of hydroelectric units.

Shortly after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's return from China, Deputy Economy Minister Stergios Pitsiorlas disputed the agreement between Public Power Corporation and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) for the construction of a lignite-powered unit at Meliti, near Florina in western Macedonia.