Greek PM: Public land not for sale

Athens, 15 February 2011 (MIA) - Prime Minister George Papandreou announced Tuesday he was proposing a law banning the sale of public land and that only a parliamentary decision would be able to overturn the ban "in exceptional cases."

The PM's announcement comes after this weekend's rift between Greece and the country's international creditors when IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank representatives said Greece must privatize EUR50 billion ($68 billion) in state assets by 2015.

"I am proposing a law ... that public land is not to be sold or transferred or exchanged," Papandreou said, according to a transcript. He said public land would be "utilized for development, it will be utilized for reducing the debt ... but none of us must confuse the term 'utilize' with 'sale'."

In an apparent attempt to calm domestic outrage, the government spokesman publicly rebuked the debt inspectors, accusing them of interfering in Greece's internal affairs.