Athens is always further east. A golden drift for Hellas, increasingly distant from the Old Continent, which often sees it as a ballast. An ancient beauty that continues to appeal. But, this time, it is the conquerors of the East who seduce her.
Before the crisis, it was the Europeans who invested in Greece. French and German in the lead. “Now, however, they are in hiding – he explains to Le Monde Stelios Stavridis, resigned number one of Taiped, the fund for the enhancement of the Greek state's assets - because they think it still takes too much time for the change of mentality that our country needs".
While Europe hesitates, Asia begins to set its sights on the Peloponnese. In 2008, the Chinese state shipping giant Cosco signed a 35-year concession agreement with Athens for the exploitation of half of the terminals in Piraeus, the country's main port. Today Beijing does not hide its interest in the rest of the structure and in the dozens of other smaller ports in the process of being privatised.
On March 2014st, some representatives of the Greek authorities and of Cosco inaugurated a section of tracks that connects the port of Piraeus to the national railway network, thus creating direct access to the Balkan and European markets. And to really master this supply chain, the Chinese have applied (together with the Russians and the French) for the recovery of the Greek national railway company, Trainose, whose privatization is scheduled for the first half of XNUMX.
But we don't live on China alone. Qatar in 2008 bought 4 percent of Alpha Bank. A deal worth 300 million euros. Then he showed interest in a gold mine in the Haldikiki peninsula and in the construction of a natural gas plant in Astakos. At the moment, the two projects are still on paper. "The problem - explains Stavridis - is that Qatar wants to negotiate without going through the normal rules of the offer, but the European legislative framework does not allow us to free ourselves from these procedures".
Sheikh Hamad Ben Jassem Al-Thani, meeting Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Doha in January, was very clear: “We are serious investors and friends of Greece, but we think that the most effective method is to resort to direct, faster agreements and effective".
The Qatari investment fund is one of 4 candidates to manage the 600-hectare Elliniko, a space twice the size of Central Park, south of Athens, which will be privatized starting October 29. Qataris are also vying for the recovery of Astir Vouliagmenis, a building owned by the Bank of Greece.
