We have no intention of privatizing water, he repeated Minister of Environment and Energy Th. Skylakakis, being placed in Parliament during the debate on the State Budget 2024. Referring to the ministry’s goal to invest resources in the reform of drinking water providers – except for Athens and Thessaloniki – due to the accumulation of liabilities in some of them, Mr. Skylakakis said that we seek to increase their effectiveness, so that we have cheap and clean water, do not turn a blind eye to non-payers and have a reduction in damages. He even noted that how this will be done, we will discuss it exhaustively with the local government.

In his intervention, the president of the SYRIZA-PS parliamentary group, S. Famoussaid that the government, after bankrupting the Municipal Water Companies, because they charged them the energy costs of the readjustment clause and did not allow the municipalities to staff the DEYAs, [..] proceeds to introduce the PPP in the management of water supply and drainage. “You will find us against” the water privatization plans, which are at the expense of the needs of the citizens, in opposition even to the decisions of the Council of State, and in favor of the arrangement of your colleagues, said the president of KO SYRIZA-PS.

For the announcement of the privatization of water “from the back door” he spoke parliamentary representative of PASOK, M. Katriniswhile the parliamentary representative of the KKE, N. Karathanasopoulos spoke of “predators” already participating in the management of water resources.

In response, Mr. Skylakakis said that the water privatization was a fairy tale. “There is no object when you talk about privatizing water, because we have no intention to privatize water. Why this pacifier with this fairy tale, since we have no intention? To mobilize people and harm them in the end?’ As he noted “what we are asking for is a better quality of water service delivery and we are willing to help the water providers and talk to them about how to achieve that. And to ensure,[..] that the taxpayers’ money will be properly invested for this purpose, emphasized Mr. Skylakakis.

At the same time, and responding to the intervention of the parliamentary representative of Hellenic Solution K. Chita for new colored electricity tariffs, Mr. Skylakakis said that now consumers will clearly know the prices. “You know something? Competition works. The market is already shaking. Prices will go down” predicted Mr. Skylakakis.