FinMin Hatzidakis: Growthfund subsidiaries to function ‘like mini-PPCs’ under new bill

Athens, Greece.– A new bill to be voted on in the first half of the year for the Growthfund-The National Fund and its subsidiaries will turn the subsidiaries into small-Public Power Corporation (PPC) businesses, National Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Friday at an event.

At the New Year’s cake-cutting event of the Hellenic Public Properties (ETAD), the agency managing public properties, Hatzidakis said, “We are at a new start for the Growthfund and its subsidiaries, which we want to base on rules of effectiveness and service to the state and society overall.”

The bill will propose that directors of the subsidiaries be hired from the private sector as well as the public one, through tendering procedures for a specified period of time, he said. The process will involve the state testing and hiring agency (ASEP), but the procedures will not be as slow. “There will be changes in the daily operation procedures as well. Everything will move with transparency but at greater speed,” the FinMin said.

For ETAD in particular, he said, “Inertia leads nowhere, and if we continue to do the same things, we will have the same results.” Despite progress in the past, there is still a lot that is not working out, he added. Procedures begun to identify properties that are ready for development will be given priority. Organizational changes will allow the setup of separate departments to handle large and mature properties, and smaller properties, he revealed.

“We cannot have a new beginning without fast procedures,” Hatzidakis said. “The methods we use have been implemented sucessfully internationally and in Europe as well. If rules are set down and applied properly, I am sure the effort will bring positive results.”