Guardian
February 17, 2011
Prime minister George Papandreou has sought to reassure Greeks that his government will not engage in a huge sell-off of state-owned properties, days after international creditors suggested that large-scale privatisations could solve the country's debt crisis.
The socialist leader attempted to allay fears following public outrage over proposals that Greece sell off its beaches, ports, airports and tourist assets to rein in its debt.
Addressing a cabinet meeting, Papandreou tried to contain the furore, saying he had ordered his ministers to begin cataloguing state-owned assets with a view to protecting them. "Public land is not for sale," he said.
Monitors overseeing the terms of a €110bn bailout for Greece by eurozone nations and the IMF raised the spectre of state asset sales last week. Stopping short of saying that national monuments should be auctioned, international auditors shocked Greeks by suggesting the government launch €50bn privatisation drive of prime land.
Denying that Greece would have to sell off its cultural gems such as the Acropolis, Poul Thomsen, the chief monitor in charge of the IMF mission, nonetheless resorted to unusually stern language. "The mismanagement of public property is a major source of waste [in Greece]," he said.
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