by Nikitas » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:21 pm
Soto,
I am sure that the people of Piraeus, if asked, would rank the Tzanio hospital more important to them than the port.
From the nation's point of view it probably isn't. What I am pointing out is that there were no vociferous protests in Bucharest about one of their "assets" being handed over to a Greek company and to Greeks it seems natural that one of their private companies can manage a foreign state asset. Nobocy would ever think that the Greek corporation is going to rip the hospital off its foundations and bring it to Greece.
So why do we bitch about a foreign corporation doing the same with a Greek asset? That is the point.
In fact it might even be more profitable to hand over the management of a port to a specialised company that will exploit to the full. A good example is the Flisvos Marina.
When the Phaliron municipality operated the marina it made an annual loss of one million Euro. It is now run by a private specialist marina operator and it brings the municipality 4 million Euros annually. And it is a lot cleaner and has more amenities for the public than in the past. It is ironic that now, with private management, you can visit the marina, and approach super yachts, (the supreme symbols of privte wealth, like the Maltese Falcon that cost 200 million) from a few feet away.
The Maltese Falcon belongs to our fellow Cypriot hedge fund manageress Mrs Amvrosiadou by the way. Presumably her private hedge fund is among the "good lenders" who own some Greek debt. We do not mind her lending money, it is those Germans that are the problem.