Skip to main content

German airport company possible beneficiary of EU-imposed Greek privatization program

North American Labor Union advises against privatizing with Germany-based Fraport group

The austerity program prescribed by the European Union as a condition of Greece’s loan extension includes a privatization program to raise 50 billion euros from the sale of Greek state assets. While Germany was widely perceived as taking a hardline approach in negotiations over the terms of loan extensions, a German company—Fraport Group—that is majority owned by German local governments may be one of the beneficiaries of this privatization program.

Fraport is the owner and operator of Frankfurt Airport, one of the largest airport in Europe. In November 2014, a Fraport-led consortium won a tender offer to operate 14 Greek regional airports for a term of at least 40 years. However, after the Syriza-led government took power in January 2015, Greece began reevaluating the existing privatization program, putting the Fraport deal in jeopardy.

The recent terms prescribed by European Union member states, including Germany its most influential member, preempt a full reevaluation and make finalization of the Fraport deal more likely. Soon after the Greek parliament voted to approve the bailout terms, the CEO of Fraport and the Minister of the State of Hesse, which owns 31% of Fraport, visited Brussels separately in an effort to complete the deal with new guarantees favorable for Fraport.

A North American labor union has entered the discussion by advising Greece against finalizing the deal with Fraport, based on its own experience with Fraport at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). The labor union, UNITE HERE, has been involved in a labor dispute with Fraport’s US subsidiary, AIRMALL USA since early 2013.

Fraport purchased AIRMALL in August 2014. Workers, union officials and American politicians have called on Fraport and its shareholders to take measures to fix problems with jobs at the AIRMALL-managed BWI concessions program. Still, in over 10 months of ownership, Fraport has failed to implement any meaningful policies to fix the problems with jobs at the airport.

UNITE HERE representatives are in Greece the week of July 27 to educate decision-makers about the conduct of Fraport’s AIRMALL subsidiary in the United States and to recommend that the Greek state explore all available options to withdraw from the deal.

Source:


Unfortunately, SYRIZA was forced to retreat also in this matter and 14 of the most vital for tourism Greek airports, will be sold off to the German company under the new "deal" with the creditors.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Capitalism & Genocide - Yanis Varoufakis Speech at the Gaza Tribunal, 23rd October 2025, Istanbul

Yanis Varoufakis   On 23rd October, Yanis Varoufakis testified in front of the Jury of Conscience in the context of the Gaza Tribunal. His speech focused on the economic forces underpinning the genocide of the Palestinian people. In particular, he spoke on the manner in which capitalist dynamics have historically fuelled the white settler colonial project and, more recently, how the accumulation of a new form of capital - which he calls cloud capital - has accelerated, deepened and amplified the economic forces powering and propelling the machinery of genocide. 

This Is Why Iran Will DEFEAT The United States & Israel!

The Jimmy Dore Show    

Trump's war in Iran crushes US working class, enriches cronies

The Grayzone   The Grayzone 's Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss how Trump's cronies are exploiting the Strait of Hormuz crisis he instigated to manipulate markets while US consumers feel the pain. 

Iran War Collapses U.S. Neoliberal Economy

Glenn Diesen   Yanis Varoufakis is an economist, the former Finance Minister of Greece, and the author of numerous bestselling books. Yanis Varoufakis discusses the historical mistake of attacking Iran (again). 

Saudi Arabia & Qatar caught Mossad agents planning false flag operations inside their soil to blame Iran

Tucker Carlson says Saudi Arabia & Qatar caught & arrested Israeli Mossad agents planning bombings in those countries. pic.twitter.com/6PUxWeUymu — Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) March 3, 2026

A response to misinformation on Nicaragua: it was a coup, not a ‘massacre’

There is so much misinformation in mainstream corporate media about recent events in Nicaragua that it is a pity that Mary Ellsberg’s article for Pulse has added to it with a seemingly leftish critique. Ellsberg claims that recent articles, including from this website, often “ paint a picture of the crisis in Nicaragua that is dangerously misleading. ” Unfortunately, her own article does just that. It looks at the situation entirely from the perspective of those opposing Daniel Ortega’s government while whitewashing their malevolent behavior and downplaying the levels of US support they have relied on. Her piece is an incomplete depiction of what is happening on the ground, ignoring many salient facts that have come to light and which have been outdated by recent events. The following is a brief response to Ellsberg’s main points from someone who lives in Nicaragua and has observed the situation directly and intimately: https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/15/a-res...

US-Israeli attack on Iran expands into GLOBAL WAR: EU & UK join, Canada supports, Gulf regimes hit

Geopolitical Economy Report   The US-Israeli war on Iran is expanding into a global conflict. The European Union supports it. The UK is letting Trump use British bases. Germany and France are involved. Canada backs it. Tehran has retaliated, in self-defense, hitting US military bases in Gulf countries. Ben Norton explains. 

Iran could be the US’s Boer war: a hollow victory that marks the beginning of the end of empire

US leaders anticipated a walkover. Now they’re embroiled in a conflict that could hasten the end of US economic dominance  by Larry Elliott   Nobody gave the Boers a prayer when the war in South Africa began in 1899. It was farmers ranged against the might of the British empire, and the expectation was that resistance would quickly crumble. Eventually, might did prevail. Britain won the Boer war, but it was a hollow victory that took the best part of three years to achieve and came at a high cost. The blow to British prestige – coming at a time when its global hegemony was under threat from fast-growing countries such as the US – was severe. Far from highlighting the extent of Britain’s power, it exposed its limitations. A century and a quarter later, the US risks being embroiled in its equivalent of the Boer war. What should have been a walkover threatens to become a prolonged conflict. The Iranians are using guerrilla tactics, just as the Boers did, with much success. There ...

Stephen Hawking confirms: The problem is Capitalism, not robots!

globinfo freexchange According to world famous physicist Stephen Hawking, the rising use of automated machines may mean the end of human rights – not just jobs. But he’s not talking about robots with artificial intelligence taking over the world, he’s talking about the current capitalist political system and its major players. On Reddit, Hawking said that the economic gap between the rich and the poor will continue to grow as more jobs are automated by machines, and the owners of said machines hoard them to create more wealth for themselves. The insatiable thirst for capitalist accumulation bestowed upon humans by years of lies and terrible economic policy has affected technology in such a way that one of its major goals has become to replace human jobs. If we do not take this warning seriously, we may face unfathomable corporate domination. If we let the same people who buy and sell our political system and resources maintain control of automated technology, the...

Προβλέψεις ...

GR elections Update (15/9): Αναθεωρημένες προβλέψεις (μετά το δεύτερο debate): ΣΥΡΙΖΑ 28-30% ΛΑΕ + ΣΧΕΔΙΟ Β' κ.λ.π. 20-23% ΝΔ 11-13% ΧΑ 6-8% ΚΚΕ 5-5,5% ΕΝΩΣΗ ΚΕΝΤΡΩΩΝ 2,5-3% ΠΟΤΑΜΙ 2,5-3,5% ΠΑΣΟΚ + ΔΗΜΑΡ 3-4% ΑΝΕΛ 2,5-3,5% Update (11/9): Αναθεωρημένες προβλέψεις (μετά το πρώτο debate): ΣΥΡΙΖΑ 25-28% ΛΑΕ + ΣΧΕΔΙΟ Β' κ.λ.π. 20-23% ΝΔ 11-13% ΧΑ 6-8% ΚΚΕ 5-5,5% ΕΝΩΣΗ ΚΕΝΤΡΩΩΝ 3,5-4% ΠΟΤΑΜΙ 2,5-3,5% ΠΑΣΟΚ + ΔΗΜΑΡ 3-4% ΑΝΕΛ 2,5-3,5% Update (04/9): Αναθεωρημένες προβλέψεις: ΣΥΡΙΖΑ 23-25% ΛΑΕ + ΣΧΕΔΙΟ Β' κ.λ.π. 20-23% ΝΔ 12-15% ΧΑ 6-8% ΚΚΕ 5-5,5% ΕΝΩΣΗ ΚΕΝΤΡΩΩΝ 3,5-4% ΠΟΤΑΜΙ 2,5-3,5% ΠΑΣΟΚ 3-4% ΑΝΕΛ 2,5-3,5% Update (29/8): Αναθεωρημένες προβλέψεις: ΣΥΡΙΖΑ 23-25% ΛΑΕ + ΣΧΕΔΙΟ Β' κ.λ.π. 20-23% ΝΔ 12-15% ΧΑ 6-8% ΚΚΕ 5-5,5% ΕΝΩΣΗ ΚΕΝΤΡΩΩΝ 4-4,5% ΠΟΤΑΜΙ 4-4,5% ΠΑΣΟΚ 3-4% ΑΝΕΛ 2,5-3,5% Update : Αναθεωρημένες προβλέψεις: ΣΥΡΙΖΑ 26-27% ...