EU authorities probe Henry Dunant tender

The tender for the sale of the Henry Dunant Hospital in Athens has come under the scrutiny of the European Central Bank's Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and the European Commission's competition authorities (DG Comp), following government interventions aimed at seeing the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (and therefore the state) being named the winning bidder.

The government's effort to restrict competition has provoked a number of interested investors to complain to Brussels.

While not a formal recourse, the complaint constitutes a warning signal that the violation of competition principles in the tender process that is unfolding ahead of the deadline for binding bids on October 15 will not be tolerated.

The European regulators appear annoyed by the statements of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras two weeks ago, when he hastened to proclaim...