A televised “clash” on Thursday morning between the relevant minister and the head of the taxi union in the greater Athens-Piraeus came amid the latest and ongoing cab strike in Greece’s biggest urban agglomeration and even other regions.
On his part, Alternate Transport Minister Konstantinos Kyranakis first referred to “four fruitless meetings” with the president of SATA, the acronym of the drivers’ and owners’ union. On the back of successive strikes since late last year, Kyranakis also accused the union’s leadership of “seeking to make noise rather than seek solutions”, while charging that SATA’s president, Thymios Lymberopoulos, threatens colleagues opposed to the industrial action and “does not represent the honest taxi driver.”
Appearing in another “window” of the live morning current affairs program, an incensed Lymberopoulos subsequently accused the minister of “acting as the “lawyer for private companies.” He also charged that a draft bill up affecting the sector, and now up for ratification, “is written and tailored to support the special interests of rental car companies at the expense of society and our sector.”
He was pressed on the issue to cite an article in the draft bill.
On the issue of mandatory electrification, the long-time unionist referred to favoritism toward “large companies,” arguing that “nowhere in Europe is the transition to an electric vehicle by a taxi owner mandatory.”
Kyranakis countered that in countries such as Germany, electric taxis account for nearly 30% of the fleet, while clarifying that owners in Greece over the age of 62 are exempt from the obligation.
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The “back-and-forth” exchange also touched on the sensitive issue of drivers’ criminal records, something envisioned in the draft bill.
Lymberopoulos said he was skeptical of a government promise to exclude misdemeanor offenses as a reason for denying a taxi driver’s license to an individual, to which Kyranakis replied that “someone convicted of assault cannot be driving a taxi.”
Earlier, Kyranakis said that out of the 10 demands submitted by the union “six have been satisfied or are being advanced,” clarifying that the government disagrees with fare increases, the renewal of licenses for individuals with criminal records and the unrestricted movement of taxis in the greater Athens area’s bus lanes — except for passenger pick-up and drop-off.
Finally, Kyranakis signaled a forthcoming crackdown by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), Greece’s tax bureau, on taxi license transactions, stating that declared sales/purchases range between 5,000–6,000 euros, while advertising listings cite amounts reaching 120,000 and 150,000 euros.
