The new contract between the Greek State and TRAINOSE, as well as the benefits of this agreement, was presented to the Parliament, during its ratification by the Plenary, by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Kostas Karamanlis.
The agreement is worth 500 million euros over a 10-year horizon, of which 453 million euros will return to the Greek government as investments. In fact, with the 80-20 reciprocity clause, the State will get 20% of any excess profits. Mr. Karamanlis underlined that the new agreement corrects faults in the extremely problematic privatization effected by SYRIZA, which privatized a state monopoly, while the New Democracy government comes to take back benefits from the private sector. He also referred to the railway projects totaling 4.5 billion euros, which have been tendered by the government, after the years of neglect of Greek railways.
Compensatory benefits
Mr. Karamanlis initially recalled that The Greek State gave 50 million euros a year to TRAINOSE both when it was a state company and when it was a private company, so it would service barren lines, and never got anything back, noted New Democracy MP and former Deputy Minister of Transport Yiannis Kefalogiannis.
Now as Mr. Karamanlis noted the Greek State will give 500 million euros for 10 years, and will get back 453 million euros immediately. This together with indirect investments approaches 2 billion over a period of 15 years.
He also recalled that in 2013 SYRIZA verbally attacked Mr. Stathakis of the then Government of New Democracy for trying to privatize TRAINOSE for 300 million euros. But it was SYRIZA that in 2017 sold TRAINOSE for 45 million euros, i.e. five million euros less than the annual aid for the provision of public services, and at the same time misguided the public.
Mr Karamanlis accused of taking a state monopoly and turning it into a private monopoly.
