Brussels, 11/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 11 June 2013, the European Commission urged the Greek government to make another attempt to privatise the natural gas company, DEPA, after not a single bidder came forward on Monday (see EUROPE 10863). “The outcome of privatisation process is very important both from the point of view of revenues, a crucial element of the ongoing adjustment programme” and also has an impact on ongoing reform of the energy sector, explained a European Commission spokesman, adding: “In this context, the privatisation process of DEPA should resume as soon as possible, in order to minimise the possible effects on the timetable for privatisations and the proceeds from the privatisation programme”. The aim is to raise €2.6 billion from privatisation in 2013. Speaking from the Netherlands, Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn said it was too soon to talk about reducing the target.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said at a press conference on Tuesday with the prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, that problems encountered in the privatisation process would be “overcome” and “claims that new measures will be required are absurd”. Commenting on the rumours that the European Commission prevented Russian gas giant Gazprom from bidding for DEPA, he said that the bidding procedure had been “correct”. The European Commission said: “Just to clarify - the design and execution are the responsibility of the Greek authorities”. Gazprom said that “the reason behind not submitting a binding bid is due to the lack of commercial viability of the deal.”
The failure to sell off DEPA is bad news for the Greek government, which is trying to convince its lenders to allow it to reduce VAT on cafes and restaurants. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that there is no room for manoeuvre in this connection. The Commission largely agrees with the IMF on this, recommending caution to ensure that the budget targets are not jeopardised (see EUROPE 10860). A source at the Greek finance ministry said: “We have asked for a trial implementation of the [VAT reduction] measure”. (EL/transl.fl)