Outgoing energy minister Panos Skourletis on Monday reiterated his opposition to the sale of a 17-percent stake of the Public Power Corp. (PPC), speaking at a ministry handover ceremony.
Skourletis, viewed as a die-hard leftist in the Tsipras Cabinet, was switched to the interior ministry, with the energy portfolio given to Giorgos Stathakis. The latter is considered a more market-friendly SYRIZA cadre.
Stathakis was shifted from the economy and development ministry.
The sale of the stake in PPC, the state-run power utility in the country, is a memorandum-mandated action.
Skourletis again expressed his ideological opposition to the prospect, calling the plan “outdated and dogmatic”.
He also disputed the fact that the current Greek government signed any order to float the 17-percent stake in PPC, a portion of whose shares are traded on the Athens Stock Exchange. Skourletis said the previous center-right government had made the commitment, which was “inherited” by the leftist government.
