Galery

1

We do not want increases and we are open to dialogues. What we do not want and will not allow in any case to happen is to remove the collective labor agreement and its terms. About 2500 employees are participating in the ten-day strike—in other words 100 percent of “Hellenic Petroleum’s” employees. 

At the same time the restriction for the end gasoline prices for the 13 municipalities of Corfu, Cycladic islands, Lesbos, Phokis, the Dodecanese, Kefalonia, Samos, Chios, Lasithiou, Retimnos, Grevena, Evros and Evritaniya seriously angered the owners of gas stations. The Supreme Court issued a decision that owners of gas stations that do not apply the limit in these areas will be arrested and convicted according to the rapid procedure. Meanwhile there are serious discrepancies between the data of the Ministry of Regional Development and competition and the actual invoices of gas station owners, which show that they have purchased gasoline on wholesale prices exceeding the ceiling restrictions. On the island of Samos gas station owners decided to hold a working 24-hour strike, and on the island of Corfu 30 out of 80 gas stations in the region have chosen to close, rather than to sell gasoline at a price lower than that recorded in the invoices.

GRReporter sought to find the President of the Union of gas station owners Michalis Kyusis so he can explain how, once again, we came to the same misunderstanding, similar to that of 2010. 

The government once again put a restriction on the final price of gasoline. How do you evaluate this measure? 

The Union opposes the measure to impose a ceiling on fuel prices in the manner in which it is introduced now, and mainly because it does not respect the law. It states that the restriction should be introduced not only to the final price to the consumer, but at all sales levels involved in pricing. This time, as well as before, the ceiling applies mainly to small traders, but not for retailers. There are restrictions only in five municipalities for transport companies, but that is not enough. 

In this situation it is impossible to deal with threats, prosecutors and the imposition of criminal charges, especially when our colleagues are forced to sell at a loss. We have hundreds of signals from gas station owners who buy at 1.80 euros, and are obliged to sell at 1.78 euros. Nobody should sell at a loss. Therefore, all gas station owners that are in areas with price restrictions, close their gas stations. And here is the error of the Ministry of Development – it should impose a ceiling on all stages of distribution. 

I cannot hold myself and have to ask you again, the problem is repeating again and the government once again makes the same moves that proved ineffective in previous years. Why do you believe the government hesitates on imposing a ceiling at the refinery? 

I believe the government fears the reaction of the above mentioned market circles and therefore puts a ceiling where it is easy. This way, however, the problems of the market are not solved. It takes determination and the law should be implemented up to every letter and not selectively. 

Evidently the problems in the sector are many. Do you think the strike of “Hellenic Petroleum’s” employees threatens the gas stations in Greece to “dry up”? 

From our experience and from other 10-day strikes, I can judge that there will not be a problem with the supply of gasoline.