DEPA sell-off process is to be delayed

The privatization timetable for Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) is sliding off track: The plan to break up the gas utility into a trading company and an infrastructure entity, which is essential for the privatization process, has hit a snag due to what the government considers a major issue - i.e. making the contract workers employed by the company permanent.

The pressure exerted by Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis on DEPA's management and its regional subsidiaries to hire those workers - in line with his election promises - has not been fruitful.

The DEPA employees are on strike for a fourth day in a row, and the company's management, aiming to win some time, is considering asking the DEPA board on Friday for the postponement of the DEPA general meeting on May 31 (which was expected to approve the breakup) by one month.