Alexis Tsipras News

Greek shipowners could relocate to Britain after it leaves the European Union if European regulators demand changes to favorable shipping taxes in Greece, a top industry official said on Friday.The European Union has been pressing Greece to end generous tax allowances it grants shipowners, although the government has steered away from imposing heavy taxes on an industry that operates some of the world's biggest vessels."If the European Union threatens us ... obviously we will look at alternative options…

Greece will not tolerate any challenges to its territorial integrity, its prime minister said on Thursday, days after Turkish and Greek coastguard vessels collided close to disputed islets in the Aegean Sea. Each side blamed the other for Monday’s collision off an islet known as Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish. They came to the brink of war in 1996 in a sovereignty dispute over the islets. Seeking international support, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras underlined that Greece’s border was also that of the 28-nation European Union, and his foreign minister briefed the head of NATO and the U.S.

Greece’s deal with Chinese shipping giant COSCO is “helping the country stand on its feet,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said. “We are sending a strong message to the international markets that Greece is decisively entering a new phase,” Tsipras said. According to a report in Xinhua, China and Greece have great hopes for Piraeus port, as attested to by the meeting of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras on Monday. Li met with Tsipras in Beijing on Monday afternoon, with much of their meeting focused on Piraeus. COSCO and the Greek state privatization authority TAIPED officially signed an agreement for the sale of a majority stake in the Port of Piraeus (OLP).

COSCO Greece objected on Wednesday to terms submitted to parliament for the sale of Piraeus Port to China COSCO Shipping, saying they were inconsistent with those previously agreed with the Greek privatisation agency. Greece sealed the sale of Piraeus Port Authority to China COSCO Shipping Corporation in April, a major step for the bailed-out country in meeting the demands of international creditors that it step up privatisations. Under the 368.5 million euro (£298 million) deal…

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Saturday for countries to do more to help cope with Europe's migrant crisis, saying Greece could not manage on its own. Speaking in Athens before heading to the Greek island of Lesbos, the gateway into Europe for nearly a million people last year, Ban said Greece had shown "remarkable solidarity and compassion" in dealing with the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war, despite its economic hardship. "Greece should not be left alone to address this challenge on its own," Ban told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "We must work together to protect people and address the causes of displacement.

Policy reforms required to meet bailout terms; parliament expected to measures on May 8. Greeks started a 48-hour nationwide strike on Friday in anger at tax and pension reforms pursued by the indebted nation to qualify for more of a multi-billion euro bailout it signed up to last year. Called by the largest private and public sector unions, the strike left ships docked at port, disrupted public transport and kept civil servants and journalists off the job. Greece's largest labour union, the private sector GSEE, said the reforms, now pending approval in parliament, were the "last nail on the coffin" for workers and pensioners who have sacrificed enough after six years of austerity.

Greece has formally signed an agreement to sell a 67% stake in the Port of Piraeus to Chinese shipping company China Cosco Holding Co. Under the deal, COSCO, the fourth-largest container shipping firm and second-largest port operator in the world, will pay the cash-strapped country 368.5 million euros (418.8 million U.S. dollars), and also promises to invest another 350 million euros (398.9 million dollars) over the next decade in infrastructure work at the port. In five years of operation, COSCO aims to make the Piraeus port the south gate of the China-Europe land-sea express to speed up transportation between China and Europe, said Xu.

Greece is to sell its biggest port Piraeus Port Authority to shipping group China COSCO Shipping Corporation, marking the second major privatisation for the country since late last year. The port sale had been halted by the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras when it won elections in January last year but it was resumed under Greece's 86 billion-euro bailout deal agreed with its euro zone partners in August. On Friday, striking dockworkers marched in central Athens to protest against the sale, which they fear will put their jobs at risk. Container terminals were shut as a result of the strike. Brief scuffles broke between police and some of the protesters.

ABOARD THE AGIOS EFSTRATIOS, Aegean Sea, Feb 11: Greek Captain Argyris Frangoulis lifts his binoculars and with eyes fixed on the Aegean Sea horizon, steers his patrol boat out near the Turkish border to a dinghy full of stranded refugees. He zeroes in on the target and gasps - "My God!" - another grey rubber motor boat packed with about four times as many people as it can hold, many of them young children and babies. "Everybody safe, OK?" he yells at the passengers, mainly Syrians and Afghans, approaching the coast guard vessel bewildered and in near-silence. About 50 people are pulled aboard one by one, smiling but too exhausted to speak. By the time they stagger wearily to the boat's rear, a dinghy is spotted in the distance.

China's COSCO already the sole bidder for Greece's Piraeus Port. Buying both would give COSCO a European transhipment hub. China's COSCO is expected to make an offer for Greece's rail network after becoming the sole bidder for the country's largest port, two people familiar with the matter said, as the state owned shipping giant forges ahead with a plan to build a European transhipment hub. Buying TRAINOSE and Piraeus Port would give COSCO maritime connections to the Suez Canal and rail links to the Balkans and central and Eastern Europe. Bolstered by December's merger with China Shipping Group , COSCO's focus on Greece is about building market share at a time of anguish in a bruised and oversupplied shipping sector, industry sources said.

Ferries were docked at Greek ports on Wednesday as sailors kicked off their second 48-hour strike this week, adding to a groundswell of public discontent over plans to reform the country's struggling pension system. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras launched a vocal defence of the plan on Tuesday, saying that the country had no choice but to reform a pension system which had created chronic deficits and would collapse if left unchanged. Greeks, many of whom will see contributions jump to about 20 percent of monthly earnings to prop up the new pension system, have responded angrily to the proposed changes, staging a series of rallies and protests across the country in recent weeks.

Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum agreed on Friday to buy crude oil from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the first European refiner to restart trade relations with Iran after the lifting of international sanctions. Hellenic Petroleum was a major buyer of Iranian crude, which accounted for about 20 percent of the southeast European country's annual crude oil imports before sanctions were imposed on Tehran in 2011. The agreement came after Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia and his Greek counterpart Panos Skourletis met in Athens on Friday. The two ministers also attended talks between executives from Hellenic Petroleum and NIOC, a meeting reported by Reuters on Jan. 18.

Cosco Pacific is expected to submit an improved bid for the controlling stake in Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) on Wednesday that is set to be discussed at the board meeting of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED), reports Kathimerini. Cosco was the sole bidder for a 67 percent stake OLP, the manager of the country's biggest port which is a gateway to Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa. The agency has asked Cosco to improve its offer. Reliable sources say that the new Cosco offer will be "realistically good" and will likely exceed both valuations that the two independent consultants had made for the TAIPED privatization fund.

China's Cosco sole bidder for the country's biggest port. Greece will evaluate on Wednesday an improved bid that China's Cosco is due to submit for a majority stake in Piraeus Port, a senior official at the privatisation agency (HRADF) said on Monday. Cosco was the sole bidder for a 67 percent stake Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), the manager of the country's biggest port which is a gateway to Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa. The agency has asked Cosco to improve its offer. "HRADF's board is scheduled to convene Wednesday evening to assess an improved offer that Cosco will have submitted by then," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The official said if Cosco's bid was not satisfactory the agency could ask the company to improve it further.

Greece only received a bid from China's Cosco Group for a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority, the operator of the country's biggest port, the privatisation agency said on Tuesday. The leftist government of Alexis Tsipras halted the port privatisation after winning elections in January last year but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in August. Privatisations, a key element of Greece's bailouts since 2010, have produced revenue of only 3.5 billion euros so far. Athens concluded a 1.2 billion-euro airport leasing deal with Germany's Fraport in December, hoping this would help it to meet its target for privatisation proceeds of 3 billion euros this year.

China’s Cosco Pacific is understood to be the only party interested in the acquisition of the 51 percent stake (plus another 15 percent) of Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), reports Kathimerini. Alexis Tsipras's government had halted the sale after winning elections in January but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in the summer. The deadline for final bids was 1700 GMT on Monday. The Hong Kong-listed firm was the only party to submit a timely binding offer in the context of the tender proclaimed in 2014 by the state privatization fund (TAIPED) by Monday’s deadline, four hours before it expired. All signs point to the absence of a second offer for the stake, which could have created some competition for the asset up for sale.

Greece said that final bids for a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority, operator of its biggest port, were submitted on Monday but the prospective buyers will not be made public until early next month. Alexis Tsipras's government had halted the sale after winning elections in January but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in the summer. The deadline for final bids was 1700 GMT on Monday. "The procedure for the submission of binding offers for Piraeus Port Authority was completed today," the country's privatisation agency (HRADF) said in a statement. The agency said there will be an announcement on Jan. 12 when the bids will be unsealed.

Greece expects binding bids to be submitted later on Monday for a majority stake in Piraeus Port Authority, operator of its biggest port, but will not announce the prospective buyers before early next month, two sources at the country's privatisation agency (HRADF) said on Monday. The leftist government of Alexis Tsipras had halted the sale after winning elections in January but resumed the process under the 86 billion-euro bailout deal it agreed with its euro zone partners in the summer. The deadline for final bids ends at 1700 GMT on Monday. A senior HRADF official said the bidders will not be announced before early January when foreign observers on the agency's board and experts attend the opening of the offers. "Everyone should be present when the offers are opened," the official said.

APM Terminals, part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, said it is interested in buying into the Greek ports Piraeus and Thessaloniki, slated for privatization if a new bailout deal is agreed between Athens and the European Union, reports Reuters. Maersk will participate in the bidding process for two of the largest Greek ports – Piraeus and Thessaloniki – after the country’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras brought the sale of the ports on the table in today’s bailout proposal, Bloomberg reports. "Yes, we are interested in the Greek ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki and are pursuing them as part of our growth plans. Our interest has been consistent throughout the economic and political cycles of the country," Francois Delenclos, Vice President of Business Development at APM Terminals, said.

Hard for us to help if no one in charge, UNHCR says; 160,000 refugees, migrants have reached Greece this year. Greece must show "much more leadership" to tackle an escalating crisis in which 160,000 refugees and migrants have reached its shores so far this year, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Clashes erupted last week on the overwhelmed Greek island of Kos between desperate people, mainly fleeing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, who come on small boats from nearby Turkey only to find dire conditions. "The pace of arrivals have been steadily increasing in recent weeks. More refugees and migrants arrived in Greece during the month of July - 50,242 - than during the whole of last year," William Spindler of the U.N.

Greece's returning Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras decided to break up the "super-Ministry" of the Economy, Shipping and Tourism. The shipping portfolio was handed to Theodore Dritsas who will head a stand-alone Ministry of Shipping. Dritsas served as Alternate Minister in charge of Shipping in the previous government. He has strongly objected the privatization of the Piraeus Port. He said his priorities are  strengthening the expertise of seafarers. He said the Greek shipping industry as a whole will aid economic growth in Greece. However, he has reluctantly admitted "there are pressing conditions that no one can ignore" and is expected to implement the agreement signed with Greece's creditors which foresees the privatization of the port authorities of Piraeus and Thessaloniki.

Greece and the US are likely to reveal a joint venture to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal when US Secretary of State John Kerry makes an official visit to Athens in November. According to a local news report in eKathimerini, Kerry dropped a hint about the plan during his meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the United States at the end of September, referring to the prospect of northern Greece evolving into an energy hub with the construction of an LNG terminal. This is based on the utilization of the licensed plan (since 2011) for the installation of an LNG terminal at Alexandroupoli by Gastrade (controlled by the Copelouzos Group), which is on the list of the European Commission’s priority projects.

Shipping minister says current measurement method not effective. On the day he took office as Greece's shipping minister in June 2012, Kostis Moussouroulis received a visit from a 90-year-old shipowner. He still remembers the older man's words: "Don't forget, the best minister of shipping and maritime affairs is the minister who is doing nothing for the shipping industry. That's the way Greek shipowners like it. The magnates who run one of the biggest merchant marine fleets in the world have long argued that if Greece tried to tax them, they would leave - and that their departure would devastate the economy. In recent years, as international institutions repeatedly bailed out Greece, the lenders have also pushed Athens to beef up its tax take.