"This is a Lymperopoulos bill for taxis"

Intense criticism about a series of “favoritism” changes added to Mr. Makis Voridis' bill on taxis, without them being memorandum obligations, was made by PASOK MPs in the House Finance Committee, threatening that unless they are removed, the bill will be voted against.

At the same time, a communication on the same issue took place between Mr. Evangelos Venizelos and PM Lucas Papademos. In the context of the update of new PASOK spokesman Fofi Gennimata, Papademos and Venizelos agreed so that improvements to certain provisions can be made on this bill.

In particular, Minister of Health Mr. Andreas Loverdos wondered whether and how the settings of the bill have been discussed with the Troika, since in a different case, “this would be very negative for the country”. In addition, Deputy Defense Minister Mr. Yannis Ragousis maintained his view that virtually no deregulation occurs in the taxi profession.

On his part, Mr. Panos Beglitis mentioned that “Mr. Voridis is attempting to pass a series of provisions that serve petty interests…there is a huge number of changes which come at the last moment, winking at certain social categories” and stressed that “if everything is not withdrawn, there will be no legislation passed other than the obligations we have towards our partners”.

Mr. Yiannis Diamantidis stated that “you have exceeded every limit. There is conflict between ministers. This bill of law servers petty interests and minister relations, it is impossible for them to legislate based on their own interest”, while Kostas Geitonas stated that “this situation is unacceptable, the bill of law has 500 articles and it is impossible to read. Only the changes which the Troika has requested should remain in the bill”.

It is characteristic that a PASOK government official stated that the changes are those of “Lymperopoulos and Voridis”. It should be noted that the critic of MPs also went against the bill of law by Mrs. Anna Diamantopoulou on development.

SYRIZA

Additionally, harsh criticism was leveled on the part of Dimitris Papadimoulis (SYRIZA), stating that “the bill of law is a worthless sheet of paper and the process is provocative, ridiculous and shows sloppiness and authoritarianism”, while Mr Asterios Rontoulis noted that “There are ministers who, in view of elections, will do the dirty work quickly. But the parliament cannot do dirty work”, while he attacked ND MPs stating that “they were against such practices and now they’ve gone silent. We should leave and let the ministers themselves consult with the parties that support them”…

On the other hand, Mr. Voridis explained that “The first chapter of the bill is the integration of two directives, 100 articles, which is an international obligation of our country and should be completed b the end of March. The second chapter concerns changes in taxis, which the commitment should fulfill. The third chapter is changes in the code of expropriations. 90% are regulations that must be met and others were consistent requirements but remained unchanged… There are two issues on fishing, ports etc which fulfill earlier changes and matters that will prepare the country for the summer. I understand the volume, but the time frame relating to 90-95% of it is within the fiscal program that the country has taken upon itself to complete by the end of March, regardless of time and elections”.