Deregulation through dialogue and specific terms

In his statement this afternoon, state minister Ilias Mosialos expressed the willingness of the government to address the taxi issue again, without giving further details. With this move the government raises a white flag to taxi drivers and says they immediately want to continue the dialogue, which was recently led to an impasse.

He stressed “we continue the dialogue with taxi owners, aiming at the deregulation of the profession under specific rules”.

The announcement came a day before the meeting of the PASOK Parliamentary Labour Sector of Transport, convened by minister Yannis Ragousis. During the last week, many members have expressed their reservations about the deregulation of the profession and the way it is being implemented. The PLS will finally take place on Tuesday evening at 6, when Ragousis will inform PASOK members on the issue.
 
The announcement also mentions that the government will shortly provide “specific proposals, based on which there will be an open and thorough consultation with all interested parties”, meaning that taxi drivers are again invited to a dialogue.

Until recently the government did not seem willing to back down, so taxi motorists carried out a series of strikes for ten days, which created many traffic and tourism problems.

These problems have now taken on such dimensions that they have caused the intervention of the Inspector General of Public Administration, Leandros Rakintzis, who requested an inventory of lost revenue from the blockade of roads and archaeological sites so the state can seek damages.

Taxi drivers insist that the debate start on the basis of Reppas’ Presidential Decree, something that the current leadership of the ministry had rejected because they had not signed it. The former have planned protests outside the parliament during the PLS on Tuesday and many motorists from the regions are expected to visit Athens to take part in the rally in order to be heard, causing chaos in the center of Athens.

The new effort towards dialogue has come at a time when Ragousis has received support from the European Commission for his tactics. Today Amelia Torres, a close associate of Joaquin Almunia on economic issues, said the deregulation of the profession is included in the reform program the government has presented to the European partners.

Despite the doubts that exist within the country, Torres saw only advantages in this reform.