http://rt.com/business/news/gazprom-greece-depa-bid-796/
Russia’s Gazprom and Sintez rush for Greek gas company
Published: 11 January, 2013, 17:18
RIA Novosti / Egor Eryomov
Greece is reportedly close to selling its state-owned natural gas group for 1.5bn euro to Russia bidders - either state-run Gazprom or privately run Sintez despite warnings from the EU and US against Russian expansion into the Greek market.
“It begs the question – what if the Russians make us an offer we can’t refuse?” a senior Greek official told the Financial Times. “We are under pressure from the troika [the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund] to raise as much money as we can from privatization.”
The sale of DEPA, the gas trading company, and its subsidiary DESFA comes as part of Greece’s broad privatization plan, which includes the sale of the betting company OPAP and prime real estate projects. Through privatization the country hopes to raise up to 15bn euro by 2016 in order to reduce Greece’s debt burden by about 7%.
Among other bidders are Socar, the Azerbaijan state gas company; Greece’s M2M partnership between MotorOil, an oil refiner, and Mytilineos, an energy company; and GEK Terna, a Greek contractor and energy producer that is only interested in acquiring DESFA, the FT reported.
Italian energy companies Edison, АЕМ and ENI, Algeria’s Sonatrach, Spain’s Gaz Natural and Enagas of Israel, Japan’s Mitsui, the Dutch company Vopak, China’s ENN and Chezh CEZ were also reportedly interested in the Greek gas assets. None of them have made a final bid yet, highlighting the concerns of many international investors that Greece could leave the eurozone.
Gazprom announced its plans to bid for DEPA in Novemebr 2012. The company already supplies 90% of Greece’s natural gas demand through a pipeline from Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, the US state department warned that Greece should ensure diverse sources of natural gas supplies to ensure regular supply. The EU is also reluctant for Gazprom to expand intp Europe. In September 2012 the European Commission launched an anti-trust probe against Gazprom over alleged unfair competition and price fixing If Gazprom is found to have broken the rules it could be fined 10% its annual revenue or $1.1-1.4bn.
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_13/01/2013_478189
Government spokesman calls for condemnation of violence after brother's home firebombed
Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou has called on all parties to condemn political violence after his brother’s house was firebombed late on Saturday.
Police said that assailants broke a window at the entrance to Giorgos Kedikoglou’s house and threw Molotov cocktails into the building, located in the Athens neighborhood of Strefi’s Hill. Kedikoglou, his wife and this three-year-old child were in the house. Nobody was injured.
This was the latest incendiary attack over the last few days, including attacks on the homes of five journalists and four political offices.
Simos Kedikoglou has clashed with SYRIZA over the past few days over accusations that the leftists are not doing enough to condemn politically related violence.
“The whole of the political world must condemn unreservedly and without exceptions the attempt to spread violence in our society,” said the government spokesman in a statement on Sunday. “Democracy cannot be terrorized.”
SYRIZA has accused the government of trying to create a “civil war-type climate” by accusing the leftists of being linked to such attacks in order to draw the public’s attention from austerity measures and the Lagarde list scandal.
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http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_11/01/2013_478069
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_12/01/2013_478146
Samaras and the madhouse
I hope and believe that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will not start displaying the kind of behavior that we have repeatedly witnessed on the part of the country’s leadership these past few years. Every few months or so, a government would make a bold and unpopular decision, Syntagma Square would be flooded with protesters and Parliament would ratify – often by a nose – certain measures. Once the hullabaloo died down, ministers, MPs, unionists and party officials would scramble behind the scenes to ensure that the measure was never implemented. The only measures that have been implemented are those that required nothing more than a few calculations at the State General Accounting Office: cuts to pensions and salaries. The liberalization of closed-shop professions, the reduction in bureaucracy and the overhaul of the public administration and justice systems are among the reforms that are still just on paper. And so, here we are, in a cycle of fiscal adjustment by impoverishment. Competitiveness cannot be improved by slashing salaries alone, because however low you push them, no one will invest in a country where the state, legislation and bureaucracy are hostile to business, nor where the justice system works at a snail’s pace and the tax code is full of gray areas and loopholes. Unfortunately, even at this point, most ministers and politicians lack the courage to take that extra step and fix these problems. But such changes cannot be brought about with half-measures and a few quick fixes to give the appearance that the state is being put in order. Someone – and that someone can be none other than the prime minister – needs to grab the ministers by their lapels and give them a direct order to do their jobs, making it clear that pensioners and civil servants can no longer pay the price for their lack of scruples and guts. He needs to tell them to stop scrounging for more money because the jig is up. A lot needs to be done over the next few months and the troika is unlikely to give Greece more than a short time to get its act together. But, the things that need to be done are not for the benefit of our creditors; they are for the benefit of our country, as a whole. There are those who doubt whether Samaras is the man for the job at hand. I understand their concerns. However, I can’t think of many politicians – young or old – that could get this difficult job done while being buffeted by the troika, vested interests, the coalition partners and all the others that make up the Greek madhouse.
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