Galery

2

1

Victoria Mindova

The unionists from the Greek electricity company decided to intensify their protest against the privatization of 17% of the company. As a result, they extended the hours of power cuts in the country and almost all of Athens and some rural areas remained without electricity from 10.30 am to 4 pm on Friday. The power company announced officially that the long hours of power outages are necessary, because more than 20 power-producing units broke due to the strike. In addition, temperatures at the weekend rose and reached 37 degrees in some places, which increases the electricity consumption of air conditioners.

"We did not find understanding from the government, but the truth is that we did not come with high hopes," said exclusively for GRReporter the president of the employees in the state electricity company Nikos Fotopoulos after the unsuccessful meeting with the Minister of Finance Evangels Venizelos. It took place late Thursday and the unions hoped the Minister to suspend the privatization of the enterprise. Its employees insist that it should remain state property and are against any type of selling.

Under the existing program, the government plans to sell most of the production units of the electric company with some of the mines with reserves of coal to private owners and the state will remain the owner of the distribution network. According to unionists, the energy market is already liberalized, because there are private producers of electricity already competing with the national giant. If the government is willing to expand the competition, it could offer concessions or privatize other state-owned mines from which to draw resources to produce electricity. Another option is to sell the distribution networks first and the privatization of the production units to start later. Many of the unionists do not like this scenario either, but it is preferable, because the state will be able to sell the assets of the company at a better price in a later period.

Electricity cuts cause very negative response in society. Citizens and professional groups oppose the power cuts, mainly because of the problems they cause in the everyday life and the work processes in the country.

"Today is a hot day, and if power cuts continue long, my fridge will spoil," told GRReporter the owner of a newsstand, cigarettes, soft drinks and snacks from Nea Chalcedon. He has the booth for 15 years and says that now is the worst period in Greece he has ever experienced. Besides that, high excise duties on cigarettes have reduced his profits by nearly 70% and the electricity cuts threaten to completely block his activity. Many sellers of newspapers rely on sales of ice cream in the summer in Greece. If there is no battery to keep their work, the products could spoil and the losses would ruin them.

Mrs. Eleni is 81-years-old retiree. She gets her pension on the 24th day but this month the date coincided with the strike of the workers in the electric company and they cut the electricity in her neighbourhood shortly after 10 am. "I called the bank and they told me that they will not work, because there will be no electricity until 4 pm, and banks close at 3 pm. I can not get my pension because of the strike of GENOP. "

The woman explained that even if banks in other districts are working, she is too old to walk around half the city with her entire pension. "A group of people can not switch off and on the current when they want regardless of the consequences. The electric company is not their own," she said of affect. The schedule of the electricity cuts is available on the web site of the electric company and often the areas appear there just before they switch off the current. "How do they imagine that old people know the Internet," said the retired woman angrily.

The strike and the power cuts will continue until June 30, which is the closing date for the adoption of the mid-term recovery plan, the privatization plan and their application. Things to pensioners as Mrs. Eleni will become more difficult next week. The trade unions in the private and public sectors plan to hold their 48-hour strike at that time and public institutions will not work for two days. Complete blockage of transport is expected and health facilities will work with reduced staff.

According to unofficial information, the Minister of Finance has promised that after the mid-term recovery plan vote he would try to freeze the process of privatization. However, unionists do not believe the promises, because in their opinion they promise only to calm the spirits while legalizing the new measures. If the Parliament approves the plan and enforces it, the union of employees in the electric company intends to seek its rights in the court. "Trade unions are established by reasonable people and if the law passes, power cuts are meaningless. Nevertheless, we have other ways to protect the public interest," said Fotopoulos.