Infrastructure, Transport and Networks minister Yannis Ragoussis met at noon Friday with the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) 'troika' chiefs, during which they reviewed the draft legislation for deregulation of taxi and truck services and the restructuring of the country's rail and urban transit system.
According to sources, the troika heads called the opening of the taxi and truck professions a matter of absolute priority.
Ragoussis told reporters after the meeting that "from the moment we undertook the political obligation to bring the country out of the crisis, and having limited the incomes of millions of Greeks, it is a moral obligation that we do not succumb to the guild-like demands for maintaining privileges of other eras".
The meeting, which was originally scheduled to take place Friday morning at the ministry building in the Athens suburb of Holargos, finally took place at the old ministry building in downtown Athens at noon after some 50 ministry employees blocked off the ministry entrance and blocked the troika chiefs' access to the building, forcing a change of time and venue.
AMNA
