The Minister Minister of Economy and Finance introduces a legislative framework that protects public assets from the impairment of the state’s stake in strategic businesses.
The new trope that gives the Public the right to actively participate in increases share capital of listed companies in which it holds a direct or indirect stake, presented to the Parliament by Kyriakos Pierrakakis.
The minister pointed out that this regulation comes to fill an important institutional gap, as until now there was no clear and defined procedure allowing the state – even through the EESYP – to react to corporate changes of this kind.
As Pierrakakis explained, without this legal tool, the State risked seeing its participation “weakened” and its stakes shrink in the event that a company proceeded with an AMC, deprived of the ability to defend its interests and the value of public property.
“The regulation enables the public sector to participate where necessary in critical economic and infrastructure enterprises in sectors of strategic importance,” he explained, clarifying that this directly concerns DEP.
“It is not the PPC of the past. It is a modern vertically integrated group with a key role in the economy and security of the region. Investments are creating critical infrastructure for decades to come and directly impacting competitiveness and costs for households and businesses. The same is true for electricity transmission networks. ADMIE plays a key role,” he said, adding that in an environment of increased uncertainty, energy is a matter of security and autonomy.
A “very important modernisation initiative that creates legal certainty and greater trust between the state and businesses“, Kyriakos Pierrakakis described the bill being debated in Parliament, which concerns the incorporation of a Community directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation, pension arrangements, etc.
As the Minister of National Economy and Finance said, “it is a multi-thematic bill, which incorporates important European directives, modernizes the functioning of the tax administration, corrects injustices and distortions, reduces unjust administrative burdens. At the same time, it promotes interventions with a strong developmental and social footprint“.
