Thousands of taxi drivers gather in Athens!

More than 10,000 taxi drivers from Greece have gathered since early Tuesday afternoon outside the House, while Minister of Transport G. Ragousis is informing PASOK MPs on the issue of liberalization.

A team of motorist representatives handed their resolutions to representatives of all Parliament parties and spoke to them of the requests of their industry.

At noon, thousands of taxi drivers from all over the country, gathered outside their Federation offices, on Marni street.

However, the SATA chairman, T. Limberopoulos, after meeting with a senior official of the Transport Ministry, spoke of a positive climate for the demands of taxi drivers. Howeve, he said that they will continue their protests until the “final justice” is given, trying to prove to society, the right of their demands.

“We achieved the political elimination of Ragousis, since many parliament members are on our side”, stated Mr. Limberopoulos and added that “Ragousis should beack off or resign”.

“Motorists will continue their protests until they get their hands on written government commitments”, he said.

Characteristically, however, by this time, more than 12.000 taxi drivers from all of Greece are in front of Parliament, where they intend to stay, aiming to “block off” the parliament building.

Meanwhile, Minister of State, Mr. Elias Mossialos, expressed the government’s disposal to address the taxi issue anew, without giving further details. The government is raising a white flag to taxi drivers and says that it wants the direct dialogue to continue, while said dialogue had been led to a deadlock, only a few days ago.

That way, motorists are directly invited to talk, once more.

For the first time taxi drivers have officially admitted that their protests have an effect on society.

In a statement by the Panhellenic Federation of Taxi Owners, unionists are launching an attack against the General Inspector of Public Administration.

The reason was Leandros Rakintzis' urging the relevant government agencies to submit claims against taxi owners for loss of earnings by the blockade in toll stations and ticket offices of archaeological sites.

POEIATA’s announcement includes the question of how many and which were the cases in Rakintzis’ 7-year tenure as General Inspector of Public Administration, when he did the same thing concerning relevant protests by other professional organisations or rallies that admittedly had a greater effect on society.

In this indirect way, the unionists of the Panhellenic Federation of Taxi drivers recognize that their mobilizations affect tourism and society, but try to defend their positions arguing that other strikes had a much more severe impact on the economy and the everyday life of citizens.

To justify their responses, they suggest that the struggle of taxi owners across the country is purely sectoral and that the decisions followed by the industry are unanimous and a product of their Federation Board.

Their announcement also reads states Rakintzis does not have the legitimate authority to carry out his duties, as his term has expired since September 2009, but he still remains in his post.

On Tuesday afternoon, motorists from across the country will come to Athens in order to gather outside the SATA offices and then march to parliament, where they will hold a rally while transport minister Yannis Ragousis is informing the relevant Parliamentary Sector of PASOK.

Meanwhile, 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.

Earlier this morning, motorists from Crete arrived at Piraeus port, with Cretan taxi unions asking for an intervention by the PM.