Greek government confirms go ahead with €1.2bn Fraport airport deal

The Greek government has confirmed the revival of a deal originally agreed back in 2014 for Fraport to lease 14 airports, predominantly tourist destinations including Corfu, for a period of forty years. Fraport and Greek energy firm Copelouzos had agreed one of country’s biggest privatization deals since the start of the debt crisis with the Greek privatization agency.
The original 2014 deal was thrown into crisis after the change in Greek government in January 2015. The incoming Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, had made it clear he was opposed to the sale of strategic state assets. However the go ahead has come as part of the bailout agreement the government has with the country’s current lenders. An official has quoted under the cloak of anonymity that “”It paves the way for the final agreement in the coming weeks,” though they added that a number of legal and technical issues remained that still needed ironing out.
Fraport however has simply stated that the government’s decision was “the basis for further negotiations” but that as of yet no contracts have actually been signed. Under the previously agreed terms of the deal, the German-Greek consortium intends to spend about €330m over the first four years to upgrade the airports. At the time of publishing €1.00 = US$1.11.