The “rent” of Mitsotakis, the streets of the banks are changing, the unfairness of Booking.com, the “Parthenon” of Pagratio, the duel for Elpedison – Economic Postman –

Table of Contents

• 1 Mitsotakis’ “rent”.
• 2 In essence
• 3 Competition;
• 4 The situation in their hands
• 5 The court decision
• 6 Foreign finger
• 7 In the Parthenon of Pagkrati
• 8 Banking strategies
• 9 The priorities
• 10 One more episode
• 11 The role of the EIB
• 12 “Duel”
• 13 How can Greece balance the economic benefits of tourism growth with the concerns of local⁣ communities regarding⁤ affordability and overcrowding?

Little by little, I think the prime minister has begun to understand what exactly has happened in the country. Perhaps he is reading the column, as I wrote to you about the problem of the large rise in consumer prices over the last four years. The Prime Minister also acknowledged that the wave of accumulated inflation gnawed away a significant part of the increases in incomes. Again the same… He also recognized that households do not yet feel the good course of the economy in their daily lives. In other words, the problem is that we have not understood it, because the government is doing what it should.

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Mitsotakis’ “rent”.

What also struck me is that he sees two problems as straining the family budget. The “rent” and electricity! And I put “rent” in quotes because it’s usually a word found on more Left-wing pages and newspapers. Really… who writes Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ messages to him? Himself? Or has the social media manager changed?

In essence

Basically now, he told us that the government is implementing policies for cheaper housing. But beyond the My Home II program, no one has figured out what it’s doing. That is, what are these famous policies that can even increase the supply. Let’s not talk about the mess that has been caused with the new building regulation.

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Competition;

Okay, presenting a program as a policy, in terms of communication I understand.

But for the prime minister to be confused as to what constitutes competition… is a bit heavy handed. Because he said, among other things, that the government is taking measures to strengthen competition, in order to compress electricity prices. How; With price caps? How does this happen? Does the ceiling increase competition? Should it proceed a little differently for potential oligopolistic practices?

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The situation in their hands

Of course, monopoly or oligopoly fronts are not few in the country. But we also have imported ones. From Booking.com. But apparently the hoteliers decided to take matters into their own hands. And if you ask me, they are doing well.

The court decision

Thus, a mini-revolution was declared in the hotel chamber on Saturday. The reason was a decision of the Court of the European Union which now gives entrepreneurs the freedom to formulate their own pricing policy, hoteliers will now claim compensation. The decision provides that the rate parity clauses that prohibited hotels from offering lower prices on their websites than on online booking platforms are not necessary to ensure the financial viability of these platforms.

Foreign finger

I remind here that the same applies to short-term rental. In one of the main pillars of the Greek economy, there were cases of imported monopoly and the “Gordian link” had to be solved by the European court.

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In the Parthenon of Pagkrati

In another pillar of the Greek economy, the focus, however, things seem to be much better. Because the financial event of the month is that Pizza Hut is back, with its first store in the Letzo building in Pagrati. The “Parthenon of Pagratio”, as it was once called in the 90s, has been closed for over ten years. Now, everyone is looking for the next store of Pizza Hut, which in the period 2010-2014 closed 27 stores of the chain and in the summer of 2020 closed all the last 16 stores. Because, the focus… also has its strategic posts.

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Banking strategies

It is not like the differences that banks show in the post-crisis era. Because what the experienced eyes of several analysts see is that we see the four systemics taking different paths. That is, a different strategy in order to maintain the good profitability performance they have achieved in the last two years. Because, as we all know, high interest rates won’t stay forever and it looks like they’ll come down faster than expected.

The priorities

So we have Eurobank focusing on geographic expansion. Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus are its “bases”, with the Middle East being the next target. Piraeus with the digital Snappi, hopes for the European markets, without opening stores. Alpha Bank will leverage the strategic agreement with UniCredit to develop its operations in all sectors, both domestically and internationally. And the National Bank wants to lead in energy loans.

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One more episode

Another episode in the Cyprus electricity interconnection issue this week, with the Prime Minister visiting the island, accompanied by Minister Theodoros Skylakakis. In the previous days, Nexans people were also on the island. After all, the Cypriot government’s investment decision remains, since a study by the European Investment Bank is also expected.

The role of the EIB

I remind you that Athens has signed an agreement with the European Commission and the European Investment Bank that will allow Greece to sell up to 25 million allowances that were not allocated in the previous phase of the European Union’s emissions trading system.

The proceeds will finance the Decarbonization Fund of the Greek Islands. The issue of Decarbonization was also analyzed by the well-known journalist of Bloomberg, Paul Tagwell. The resources of the Decarbonisation Fund from the auction of CO2 emission rights are estimated in the base scenario at 1.6 billion euros, while it is estimated that they will leverage investments of 3-5 billion euros. If the price of rights increases in the coming years, the funding from the Fund will increase accordingly.

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“Duel”

Everything is ready for the “duel” Helleniq Energy – Edison, regarding Elpedison. As I learn, the entire tender framework is ready and agreed upon by both partners of the energy production and supply company. It remains for Helleniq Energy to make the first move, that is to submit the offer for the acquisition of 50% of Edison to Elpedison. And then the Italians will submit an offer to claim 50% of the Greek energy group. The whole process, as I learn, is expected to be completed by the middle of December… And then we will know who will be the one and only shareholder of Elpedison…