The website European Tribune reports:
On Thursday, the partial privatization scheme for Deutsche Bahn by the German government was postponed and, according to German commentators, it is unlikely ever to get back on track. The privatization scheme was disrupted by the worldwide financial crisis. Deutsche Welle reports 'The German Government Postpones Deutsche Bahn Share Listing'. The German government has announced that it will postpone an initial listing of shares in the national railway Deutsche Bahn "for at least several weeks," a source close to the matter said on Thursday...
Turbulence on equity markets caused by the international financial crisis prompted the delay of the sale of a 24.9 percent stake, in what is set to be the last major privatisation in Europe's biggest economy.
Handelsblatt, the German business daily says:
The fact is, the already botched, partial privatization of the Deutsche Bahn received on Thursday ... it's death blow. And that's a good thing.
It most certainly is. As one of the Euro Tribune commenters writes:
"In my (often expressed) view, the privatisation of the German Railways is the longest-running, most crackpot and most dangerous project of neoliberals in Germany".
It beggars belief that the German government was even planning to copy the disastrous British example and privatise its excellent state-owned railway.
On the privatisation front, there's more good news from Serbia, where the planned privatisation of JAT has also fallen through. The airline is to stay in in public ownership.
The tide is turning, dear reader. Twenty-nine years of neoliberal dogma is coming to an end. It's public ownership- and not privatisation- which represents the future.
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