Four Pireaus lobbies take decision to privatize OLP to the Council of State

Four professional groups of Pireaus appealed to the Council of State on Tuesday demanding the invalidation of an early-March 2014 decision by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) which called for the expression of interest for the acquisition of a majority stake in the share capital of Piraeus Port Authority S.A. (OLP), the company behind the country's largest commercial and passenger port.
The groups appealing HRADF's decision are the Professional Chamber of Pireaus, the Small Industry Chamber of Pireaus, the Bar Association of Pireaus and the Federation of Port Employees of Greece. They claim that HRADF violated national and European law by calling for the expression of investors' interest for the majority of OLP shares (67 percent).
The four Pireaus lobbies claim that the controversial call for the expression of interest by HRADF, the state's privatisation agency, violates the rules of publicity and the principles of transparency and equal treatment, as it was not published in the state gazette and the EU gazette.
Moreover, the call for the expression of interest allegedly includes vague points and a contradictory rationale, while also violating the transparency principle because of what is claimed to be a concealment of the commitments stemming from the concession agreement.
It is also alleged that the terms of the call for the expression of interest are violating EU provisions protecting free market competition and the freedom of establishment, as it is claimed that this will not simply lead to the privatization of OLP, but to its conversion from a public to a private monopoly.