The Greek Railways could be forced to return state subsidies of over 5 billion euros and several millions in European Union funding.
The issue was raised recently by EU Deputy Director-General for State Gert Jan Koopman. It also gained traction following a letter from Joachim Luecking, head of the directorate’s Industrial Restructuring unit, to the Greek government. The letter calls for the submission of a timetable for the valuation of the carriage stock owned by OSE, Trainose’s parent company.
OSE has loan obligations of 4.78 billion euros guaranteed by the state, plus another 1.2 billion that the EU considers as state subsidies, including debts of 714 million euros that have been written off.
According to experts, the European Commission could deduct from the sum of the above amounts the value of the carriage stock, considering the rest as state subsidies that have to be returned.
Source: www.ekathimerini.com
Photo: www.ekathimerini.com
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