The book titled ‘HRADF: the body behind the sell-off of public property and the elimination of Greece’s sovereignty’ was released this week in Greek. It was produced by the Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights and published by the Nomiki Bibliothiki (Greek Legal Publisher).
 
According to a press release the book, “examines the consequences of the mass sell-off of public property by the HRADF on human rights as these are protected on a national, European and international level. “
 
The Hellenic Republic Asset Development (HRADF or TAIPED in Greek) is the state-owned company that was established by Memorandum laws in order to transfer public assets to private hands. By law once an asset is transferred to the HRADF’s portfolio (by Joint Ministerial  Decisions) it cannot be transferred back to the state but must be privatised.
 
Contributors to the new book include the President of Marangopoulos Foundation, Prof. Aliki Yotopoulou and member of the Council of State (Greece supreme administrative court) and President of the Environment and Sustainability Chamber, Maria Karamanof among others.
 
At a recent presentation of the book Ms Yotopoulou stated that the privatization program in Greece is unprecedented on an international level, with no other country in the world having established a body like the HRADF (aka TAIPED in Greek) with the state transferring public assets to a public limited company (société anonyme in French).  
 
Vice President of the Marangopoulos Foundation, Gerasimos Arsenis, agreed with that assessment and stressed that the HRADF is not subject to democratic control, despite it managing key privatizations of assets that have been state-owned since Greece’s founding. He also pointed out that it was a complete myth that when utilities are privatized (energy and water suppliers) prices fall for consumers.
 
Mr Arsenis stated that not only was the law governing the creation of the HRADF unconstitutional but that it was dangerous as well. He stated that the issue had implications for national security and Greece’s independence, given that the Memorandum program’s fundamental  targets include a significant cheapening of labour costs and the sell-off of public property (land, airports etc) with the result being that the country would become one of cheap land where multinationals dictate the future of the economy.This, he said, would be characterized by cheap agricultural products, budget tourism and vacation homes for European pensioners.
 
The chief editor of the left-wing Pontiki newspaper maintained that the privatization program was more dangerous than the fiscal measures which have led to a humanitarian crisis, given that those measures can be reversed with a change in the law, whereas public assets (land the Public Power Corporation, water utilities, natural gas and the network, highways, coasts, ports and airports) once sold could never be recovered.

Source: ANA-MPA