Greece pledges to liberalise road freight industry, despite strike

30/07/2010

The truck drivers' strike against government plans to liberalise the freight industry entered its fifth day Friday.

(DPA, eKathimerini, The Guardian, The Irish Times, FOCUS News Agency - 30/07/10; AP, Reuters, DPA, FT, BBC, The Guardian, ANA-MPA - 29/07/10; ANA-MPA, eKathimerini - 28/07/10)

Trucks line the Athens-Thessaloniki Highway on Thursday (July 29th). [Getty Images]

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou indicated on Thursday (July 29th) that his government will not bow to pressure from striking truck and fuel-tanker owners and will carry out its plans to open up the road freight industry to competition.

"We believe that liberalising jobs is something that helps young people; freeing up the market opens up the possibility for better services, for cheaper services, and is essential to paving the way for growth," the head of the ruling centre-left PASOK party said at a cabinet meeting.

Liberalising protected sectors, including the road freight industry, is among a series of major reforms Papandreou's government must implement to receive funds from the eurozone countries and the IMF, under the 110 billion-euro bailout plan announced in May.

A 30-member mission of EU, IMF and European Central Bank inspectors arrived in Athens on Monday to assess implementation of the measures Greece agreed to take to avoid a potential sovereign default. The experts wrapped up their visit Thursday and are now expected to issue a report with their findings.

The painful austerity measures and reforms Greece has been forced to take have sparked repeated strikes and protests over the past few months.

Truck and fuel-tanker owners announced an open-ended strike Monday. About 33,000 hauliers walked off the job to protest a government measure aimed at opening up the road freight sector to competition by cutting the price of new licenses.

Currently, only state-licensed vehicles are allowed to haul goods, including fuel, in Greece, where no new licences have been issued since 1986, according to the Financial Times.

Operators in the sector say that the charges to be introduced under the new legislation would fall well below the fees of up to 300,000 euros they had to pay to enter the market. One of the demands they have raised as a condition for ending their strike is for the government to delay any vote on the draft bill until the end of August.

The strike has depleted gas pumps across the country, and more than 70% of stations reportedly shut on Thursday due to lack of fuel. The strike has also hammered the struggling tourist industry and caused severe shortages of fresh produce.

On Wednesday, Papandreou issued a rare emergency back-to-work order that threatened those who defy it with arrest.

But defy it they did, and about 500 truckers gathered in front of the transport ministry Thursday in protest. Some tried to storm the building, which led to a brief clash with police, who used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Striking truck owners and Transport Minister Dimitris Reppas made a last-ditch effort to reach a compromise later Thursday, but that attempt failed. The truckers' general assembly was due to decide on Friday whether to continue the strike or call it off.