Brussels, 26/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 April, the European Commission decided to send Greece a reasoned opinion, the next stage in the infringement proceedings about privatisation of telecoms company OTE. Greece may be sent to the European Court of Justice if it fails to respond within two months.
On the grounds of the free movement of capital, the Commission is challenging the Greek government's golden share in OTE, despite the government holding 25% of the company. The special drawing rights confer a wide range of veto rights on corporate and business matters such as a company's dissolution or merger, transfer or conversion of a strategic company's assets, changes in a company's nationality. The rights require prior approval by the Greek authorities for the transfer of OTE shares by Deutsche Telekom (DT) and a change of control clause (which stipulates that, if the control of DT changes and the person acquiring control does not meet the requirements set out in national law, Greece has the right to require DT to sell back all OTE shares it held). The Commission argues that the rights give the Greek government the ability to participate in OTE's governing bodies in a more significant manner than its shareholder status would normally allow and therefore, investors, other than the Greek state and DT, might be dissuaded from increasing their investment in OTE. (MB/transl.fl)