Power cuts in Greece as anti-privatisation strike bites

Greece faced nationwide power cuts on Thursday as a rolling strike began against government plans to break up the country's main electricity provider.
State power distributor DEDDIE began one-hour cuts in various parts of the mainland as 13 production plants of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) went offline.
The cuts announced on Thursday did not include the Greek islands -- where hundreds of thousands of tourists are currently on holiday -- and the government claimed a wider blackout would be avoided.
"We have the necessary procedures in place to avoid a blackout," Environment and Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis told Skai TV.
Unions have announced rolling 48-hour strikes against plans to break up the company by 2015 as part of a privatisation drive linked to the country's economic rescue plan.
The liberalisation of Greece's energy market, which has been dominated by state-controlled PPC for decades, is a key requirement for continued loan support from the country's creditors, the EU and IMF.
The new, scaled-down private company would control a 30-percent share of PPC's extensive production resources including  mines and hydroelectric, natural gas and lignite-fired electricity generation plants.
The Greek state has also pledged to sell off 17 percent of its 51 percent stake in PPC. Employee pension funds hold another 3.8 percent.
Main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras of the radical leftist Syriza party has pledged to hold a referendum against the sale.
"The breakup and sale of PPC is a national and economic crime," Tsipras said on Wednesday during a visit to the northern town of Amyntaio in western Macedonia, the region which produces much of Greece's electricity.
"This is not just about the jobs of thousands of employees... it's about the country's safety and self-sufficiency in energy," Tsipras said.