Piraeus

By Nikos Roussanoglou

The Finance Ministry attempted to backtrack on the issue of the privatization of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) on Tuesday, releasing a statement to revise what senior ministry officials had said a day earlier.

The Greek Finance Ministry denied on Tuesday that it is planning to go ahead with the sale of a 67 percent stake in the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) after a report suggested that the privatization would take place.

The ministry emphasized, though, that it is "positively inclined" to the existing deal with Chinese shipping giant Cosco for the container terminal.

By Nikos Roussanoglou

The subject of the first clash within the government appears to be the country?s main ports ? specifically the privatization of the port authorities of Piraeus and Thessaloniki.

Listed Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) has confirmed a new record in container handling at the port?s three terminals ? Terminal I, which OLP operates, and Terminals II and III, managed by Cosco subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminal (PCT).

Strong winds of up to 10 on the Beaufort scale on Friday forced the cancellation of several ferry departures from the country?s main ports, including Piraeus and Lavrio, but services resumed later in the day.

Greece does not plan to undo privatizations that have already been completed but will only reassess state divestments that were in the previous government's pipeline, a government official said on Thursday.

"We will not cancel completed privatizations," the government official who declined to be named told Reuters.

Shril allegations of “rat” and “snitch” were the scathing barbs aimed by members of a jailed urban terror gang on Tuesday against one-time fugitive and “old guard” terrorist Christodoulos Xiros.

Counterterrorism officers were seeking to broaden their investigation into suspected links between Greek domestic terrorist organizations following the arrest Monday of Angeliki Spyropoulou, an alleged accomplice of November 17 terrorist Christodoulos Xeros, and two people with suspected links to convicted members of the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire guerrilla group.

BELGRADE - Serbia will modernise the section to the Hungarian border on the Belgrade-Budapest railway regardless of the intention of the Greek government to renounce the privatisation of the port of Piraeus, Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic said on Friday.

SREMSKA MITROVICA - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic expressed the belief on Friday that the announcement issued by the Greek government concerning the renouncement of privatisation for the port of Piraeus will not impact the realisation of the project of modernisation of the Belgrade-Budapest railway.