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Victoria Mindova

Over the past year in Greece there have been plenty of overdue reforms and unworkable laws, including the liberalization of various sectors of the Greek economy. Among them is also the law for the liberation of transportation for public use, which includes drivers of trucks and tankers in the whole country.

Liberalisation turned the summer of 2010 into a complete nightmare in the literal sense of the word. Drivers from this field refused to accept the changes imposed by the government on the recommendation of the supervisory Troika - the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. They did not want to settle with the idea of a dismissal of the number of restrictions on licences on how many thousands of tankers and trucks can operate transport services nor did they agree with the government's attempt to minimize the cost of issuing a license. As a result, Greece was a hostage to their strike for at least two months. Gas stations did not have fuel because tankers were not delivering. Supermarkets and many other commercial sites did not get their supplies because truck drivers were on strike. Even tourist ships could not berth because the ports were blocked. Everything ended after both sides (government and transport unions) were on the brink of power and the threat of civil mobilization or imprisonment, plus the promise of a three year grace period brought back order in the country. At least temporarily.

A year and a half later things in Greece not only have not improved, but are much worse in comparison with the most pessimistic forecasts, one could have imagined in 2010. This is why a new change was necessary in the liberation of the socialist type of transport market and acceleration of the process.

The coalition government of Lucas Papademos, which brings together members of three parties (PASOK, New Democracy and LAOS) is reminiscent of the fable of the fish, crab and the pike. When the issue of a reform in the transportation sector arose, the government proved to be quite cohesive and consensus was achieved almost immediately. Evangelia Tsaga, who is responsible for the "Transport and Communications" department in New Democracy, explained the process for the readers of GRReporter.

Why were the amendments in the liberalization of transport for the public benefit necessary and how did the three governing parties reach consensus on at least one topic?

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure proposed cancelling the grace period for the liberalization of professional drivers of trucks and tankers for public use. By the law of the respective Minister back then, this period was set for early June 2013. The position of New Democracy was that if the government insists to shorten the grace period, some changes must be made so that the people affected will not seriously suffer. They made their plans according to the latest legal provision which completely changed this sector. In the middle of the period comes a new one, which will replace the old provision and everything starts all over again.

Therefore, New Democracy said that in order for it to vote to repeal the grace period and accelerate the process of liberalization some changes should be made which will ease the transition for public use truck drivers. Currently, the country is passing through a major economic crisis and transportation has been reporting a decrease. For the first time drivers started on a mass scale to hand in their truck licence plates, because there is not enough work and costs are high, health and pension contributions are high and they cannot withstand the financial burden.

What exactly are the changes?

The first change that was introduced was the cancellation of the permit in Greece to give licences for transportation activities to people from third world countries outside the European Union.

The second is related to transportation abroad. The old law allowed licensed drivers who transported abroad to work within Greece as well. Thus this group of drivers was found to be benefiting from the law more than drivers who have permission to work only within the country. The change, with which all parties agreed in the negotiations, was that from now on everyone will be able to get a licence to work in the country and abroad, if they meet the relevant criteria.

The third proposal, which we made, is that in order for trucks to get a licence they would first need to have minimal environmental class Euro 5. Moreover we cancelled the obligation to form limited liability companies or other allied companies in order to allow new drivers to perform their activities. In other words, we allow market participants to be freelancers - a possibility that until recently did not exist.

The last proposal we made was to introduce a fee for all drivers of trucks and tankers for public use. It is assigned because this type of activity causes some damage to the environment, using roads and other public infrastructure and by providing the opportunity to practice this profession, the state should get something in return. These were the proposals of New Democracy in order to repeal the earlier grace period for the restructuring of the transport sector. Otherwise we would not have voted the new bill.

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.