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Did you encounter any difficulties in the negotiations when you presented your proposals?

Generally they were received well by the representatives of other political forces, because our proposals were basic and their purpose is to facilitate the transition process. When we negotiated the final version of the bill, which should speed up the process, we showed it to Minister Voridis and he agreed with our version of it. The change in law cannot and should not happen just by setting aside the grace period. Details must be included, which will soften the process.

Greece has a key geographic location. How can transportation contribute to the restoration of the Greek economy and improve the business climate?

Transportation is very important for an economy, but let us not forget that its development is directly linked to productivity, imports and exports. As you can see today we do not have a large volume of exports or imports, even less can be said for the volume of production. Moreover, there are countries around Greece which make Greek transport highly uncompetitive. Drivers from  these countries are working for very low wages, which makes expenses on salaries in Greece very high. Tax burdens are much smaller, insurance fees are lower and tolls are insignificant compared to the ones we have here.

Incentives for public transportation should be provided, so that our local market can be better organized and more competitive. Otherwise, Greek transportation will never be developed according to its full potential and will go into foreign hands. In this case whatever the state benefits from increased exports, it loses from transportation, which no longer belongs to it. In order to prevent this, we can invest in the creation of large logistics centres, infrastructures and storage facilities, which are currently unavailable.

We all remember the bitter summer of 2010, when Greece was blocked by striking drivers who refused to accept reforms in the transportation sector. Now even the grace period is being shortened, which was given to them in order to adapt to the new market conditions. Are you not afraid of new strikes?

This is why we gave our proposals which are in favour of the carriers. We will try to avoid them.