By Magda Panaotsopoulou
ATHENS
A deal was reached Friday to sell Greece’s biggest seaport after talks between Chinese conglomerate Cosco and the government.
"This important amended agreement between the two sides comes at a crucial time for Greece at the end of a difficult season and the start of a new, more optimistic one where emphasis will be given to restarting the economy," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said after signing of the 368.5 million euro (US$418.58 million) deal by the parties.
The deal is one of the biggest privatization steps in Greece under the Tsipras government since they took power in 2015.
Earlier around 300 port workers from the Greek Federation of Port Employees (OMYLE) and a dockworkers union held a rally in central Athens, fearful of losing their jobs, but there were no significant incidents.
In an announcement, the port employees said: "The government, despite its pre-electoral commitments, is proceeding to sell off the port. They threw away all the declarations regarding public ports and took advantage of fights between harbor workers in order to take power, and now throws parties to embrace the most neoliberal privatization.
The deal was criticized by main opposition New Democracy’s spokesperson George Koumoutsakos, who accused the prime minister of signing onto neoliberal policies.
"We welcome his delayed return to reality," he said.
The 1.5 billion euro deal will include Cosco paying the sum of 368.5 million euros for a 67 percent stake of the Piraeus Port Authority plus investments, worth 350 million euros in the years to come.
