On Tuesday, the Greek Parliament approved the agreement. for the privatization of the Port Authority of Igoumenitsa with the sale of 67% of the capital of the entity to the shipowning group Italian Grimaldi ( of 21 March 2023), contract - said Ioannis Plakotakis, deputy President of Parliament and former Minister for Maritime Navigation and the island policy in office when it was signed in March The agreement - "which provides for a particularly high price of 84 million euros for 67% of the share capital».

The rapporteur of the proposal to ratify the agreement, Vasilios Giorgiakas, highlighted that the price of about 84.2 million euro "has exceeded all expectations and is a figure that equivalent to 12 times the turnover of the Port Authority of Igoumenitsa and more than 50 times 2022 pre-tax profit of the Port Authority, price - it has specified - that, as it is as stated in the Commission, it will increase by two million euros, figure representing the increase in working capital of the Port Authority during the financial year 2022.' In addition, Giorgiakas pointed out that it is a price for the purchase of the share of the port authority of Igoumenitsa which corresponds to "a quarter of the stock market valuation of the Piraeus Port Authority, which realizes 25 times the its turnover'. 'Another element among the very Positives of the contract - he added - is that the fee Concessionaire, equal to 3.5% of the gross revenues of the institution, will be paid annually to the Greek Government for each of the 40 years of duration of this agreement, with 85% of this annual fee being paid to the two municipalities that host the port facilities of the institution in the municipality of Igoumenitsa and in the municipality of Filiates'.

During the debate Christos Giannoulis, exponent of the Coalition of the Radical Left - Progressive Alliance, which has voted against the draft law ratifying the agreement, The "triumphalist" tones in presenting the proposal and questioning the positive effects for communities local, similarly - he explained - to what happened in Thessaloniki where investments were promised that did not materialize. Giannoulis said that in the agreement for the institution of Igoumenitsa 'There is no express written undertaking as to any investment, for example for the navy that you promised to the electors of Thesprotia'.

Stavros Michailidis of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, Announcing the vote against the bill, he denounced that "the New Democracy government has decided to sell off basically unconditional this port, so important in many respects, declaring itself satisfied also for the sale price of about 84 million euros which, if you remove The reserve of ten million, drops to 74 million for a concession forty years'. "The notable difference with the government - Michailidis pointed out referring to the coalition that represents - is that PASOK - Movement for Change does not agrees with the general concession of ports and, in practice, with the entrustment of the exercise of administration policy and development of infrastructure of strategic importance, like the port infrastructure of the country, a country essentially insular and with various peculiarities, in the absence of strong institutions public port management'. Remembering that the group Grimaldi was also selected as bidder preferential for the acquisition of 67% of the Authority's capital Port of Heraklion ( of 12 June 2023), Michailidis stated that the sale of This port "perhaps another will follow since the Blatant government policy is the decommissioning of other ports internationally important as Volos. I will not comment - he added - if and to what extent this development is coherent and How does it affect competition, since provider and user identify in the same person'.

In his speech Konstantinos Boumpas of Greek Solution strongly criticized the assignment to the Grimaldi group of control of the port of Igoumenitsa, highlighting that in the hands of the group "there will be two hub ports, Heaklion and Igoumenitsa, and all lines connecting Megalonisos and the Cyclades. This is Very nice! An oligarch - he noted - will fix the price of tickets, establish working conditions, decide his own terms, because he is master of them."