A government amendment tabled on Wednesday would significantly reshape the governance and finances of Thessaloniki’s state-controlled bus operator (OASTh), tightening the role of the city’s transport planning authority while paving the way for the reimbursement of substantial value-added tax payments linked to state subsidies.
The amendment, attached to a finance and national economy ministry bill on the energy crisis and other provisions, revises the framework introduced under the 2017 law that brought the operator under state control after years of financial turmoil and disputes with private shareholders.
Under the new arrangement, the Greek state’s 51% stake in the bus company will be transferred to the Thessaloniki Transport Works Organization, making the planning authority the company’s controlling shareholder. The remaining 49% will continue to be represented at general meetings by the finance and transport ministers. Although the bus operator will remain under the special liquidation-in-operation regime established in 2017, the share transfer would effectively shift the balance of power over Thessaloniki’s bus network to the transport authority.
Within 15 days of the law’s passage, the company’s general assembly is to appoint a new nine-member board. Six members would be proposed by the transport authority, including the bus operator’s chairman, chief executive and another executive member, as well as the authority’s own chief executive. With one member elected by employees and two others appointed by the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the Central Macedonia region, the authority would gain decisive influence over the operator’s management.
The amendment also provides that key financial, operational and administrative decisions would require the affirmative vote of the transport authority’s chief executive, further strengthening its grip over Thessaloniki’s urban transport system.
A second provision exempts from VAT all state subsidies paid to the bus operator since July 25, 2017, the date the state takeover took effect. Any VAT already paid, or still due, on those grants would be treated as unduly paid and could be reclaimed by the operator, potentially returning tens of millions of euros to its balance sheet.
The move comes as the government presses ahead with a broader overhaul of public transport in Thessaloniki, where the long-troubled bus network is being recast alongside the metro’s gradual expansion. In recent months, transport policy has focused on closer coordination between infrastructure, operators and oversight bodies, with the transport authority increasingly positioned as the central planning and supervisory hub for the city’s transit system.
