Greek railway workers are holding a 24-hours-long strike

It has been reported that the Bucharest-Thessaloniki and Belgrade-Thessaloniki trains will be stopped at the beginning of the Greek section of their route, and their passengers will be taken to the Greek city by bus.

Trade unions are protesting against the government programme of privatization, with the help of which the authorities are planning to make some three billion euros in 2011-2013. They are planning to begin with the sale of loss-making companies, while the most profitable and attractive assets will continue to be the property of the state.

During the implementation of the privatization programme, which is part of the austerity programme coordinated by Greece with EU and IMF for the purpose of getting loans running into billions of euros within he coming three years, Greece will sell 49 percent of the TRAINOSE S.A. handling passenger and cargo traffic, which is integrated in the Hellenic Railways Organization. The accumulated losses of the Greek railways amount to ten billion euros, ITAR-TASS reports.

See www.itar-tass.com