A relevant economy minister on Friday finally signed a decree freeing up state prohibitions on Sunday store hours in a handful of urban districts in both Athens and Thessaloniki, hours before a EWG meeting in Brussels was due to decide when a 7.7-billion-euro tranche would be disbursed to bailout-dependent Greece.
To become law the decision must be published in the government gazette, something expected to come on Friday night.
Among others, the decision will affect central Athens, the area around the port of Piraeus – also in the greater Athens area – a coastal strip of southeast Athens and central Thessaloniki.
The leftist-rightist coalition government’s foot-dragging on the specific measure made it one of a handful of “prior actions” creditors wanted implemented before releasing the latest installment of bailout loan money.
From an ideological standpoint, ruling SYRIZA party had in the past, before and even after assuming power in January 2015, had been a vocal opponent of shop hour liberalization.
The decision was signed by Economy Minister Dimitri Papadimitriou, one of a handful of Cabinet members that are not elected MPs.
