Minister of Transport Yiannis Ragouss stated that the transport liberalization will go on as planned. According to the Transport Ministry’s law, anyone wishing to apply for a taxi or a truck license will be able to do so dismissing the implementation of a presidential decree previously announced by Dimitris Reppas, Ragousis’s predecessor.
Mr Ragoussis seems determined to change the taxi and truck monopoly with the licenses sold among truckers and taxi drivers on the black market for up to 300,000 euros or passed on within families. Taxi drivers’ protests in front of the parliament the past couple of days are seen by the government and the public as a last-ditch effort to stop the inevitable.
While the liberalization of the transport industry is long advocated by the majority of Greeks and transport technocrats (Economists note that just by liberalizing its closed professions, Greece would boost its GDP 10% over the next five years) for the past thirty years Greek governments have feared the potential short-term political cost of clashing with labour unions and their circles. Another problem for Greek Politicians has always been that the economic benefits of liberalisation could take a long time to show — meaning too long to help them win their next election.
However, Ragoussis doesn’t seem to care much about the short term political cost his policy may have stating “Greece can no longer be a country that says one thing, means another and ends up doing the opposite. Transport reforms will be applied no matter what”.
Had George Papandreou had more ministers like Mr Ragoussis -who a few days ago fired the HSAP MD John Spirakos as he held him responsible for the chaotic situation in HSAP- maybe he wouldn’t have to push all these taxes from increasing souvlaki’s VAT to 23% to adding even more property taxes, as the Minister of Finance Evangelos Venizelos anounced on Monday.
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