2024-02-29 20:18:15
The bill of the Ministry of National Economy on the coast and the beach, which was submitted to the Parliament and this week begins to be discussed in the relevant committee, created multiple fronts, causing reactions from different sides.
The interest was shown by the large participation of citizens and agencies during the public consultation process, which gathered more than 1,200 comments. However, both the environmental agencies and the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE), as well as representatives of the business sectors concerned, disagree with the basic provisions of the draft law for different reasons.
“It treats coastline and banks as plots of land to be exploited”
The environmental organizations characterize it as an “express bill”, underlining that it attempts to abolish the minimum protection limit of 30 meters of beach, i.e. the unstructured zone from the coast line, which is already insufficient in times of climate crisis.
“He insists on treating the coasts, river and lake shores and beaches of the country as plots of land for ‘commercial exploitation’.” At the same time, in a world that suffers more and more frequent climate disasters, the rest of the European countries (e.g. France, Spain) reasonably establish unstructured coastal zones starting from 100 meters and reaching up to 250 meters from the shore, Greece, through this bill, also abolishes the minimum of 30 meters, giving a signal to beach demarcation acts that allow construction literally on the wave!”, the organizations Prespa Protection Society, Hellenic Society for Nature Protection, Hellenic Ornithological Society state in their announcement , Kallisto, Ecological Recycling Society, Greenpeace, MEDASSET and WWF Greece.
They even accuse the ministry of constantly amending the current legal framework, “with the obvious purpose of continuously serving various private and local interests”, stating that in 2023 alone, this happened 10 times! The organizations describe the length of the consultation as “unacceptably short”, citing a continued disregard for the valuable protective services provided by a healthy and infrastructure-free coastal zone.
“Eliminates the ban on the concession of small beaches”
As the eight environmental organizations point out in the comments they jointly submitted to the consultation, the bill does not introduce reform for the effective protection and management of the coastal area, while crucial provisions related to adaptation to climate change are absent. They emphasize that the erosion of the Greek coast highlights two political problems – the uncoordinated encroachments on the coast by all kinds of port projects, and the poor management of inland waters.
According to their comment on the consultation, the bill removes the ban on concessions of “small beaches” (less than 5 meters in length or width, or less than 150 square meters in area), making even these valuable ecosystems available for potential commercial exploitation. “Even these small, isolated beaches will now be able to be leased to hotels.”
The few positives of the bill include the development of an electronic system for submitting complaints about abuses, but without any guarantee for the immediate mobilization of the competent authorities for the immediate removal of arbitrary constructions, the organizations emphasize. “Cases such as the arbitrary rents in the coastal forest of the National Park of Schinias or the multiple and proven violations on the beaches of Ios and in countless other valuable coastal and riparian ecosystems of the country, are situations that do not seem to be of serious concern to the government.”
Referring to the adoption of technical solutions, such as the QR-code, they emphasize that this does not constitute modernization, “but regression with a superficial “technological cloak”.
In this context, the environmental organizations request, as an urgent national climate resilience policy for the country, the following:
Immediate ratification by our country of the Protocol for the Integrated Management of Mediterranean Coastal Zones, which proposes as a measure of institutional shielding of the coasts the definition of a zone 100 meters from the highest winter water line in which construction is not permitted.
Removal of any right to join a support regime from the development law and from the law for strategic investments of entrepreneurs who arbitrarily harm the natural environment and encroach on coastal or riparian ecosystems.
Strengthening the independence and available resources of the Corps of Inspectors and Controllers, so that it is able to intervene effectively in cases of abuses and immediately proceed with the removal of illegal constructions.
Immediate completion of the process of establishing protection and management measures for all Natura 2000 areas of the country with the approval of special environmental studies and management plans, and the enactment of the relevant presidential decrees.
The cheated beaches
The organizations half-measured the selective establishment of “fraudulent” beaches, noting that “they only succeed in obfuscating the State’s responsibilities, resulting in our country’s continued and shameful disregard of the European Court’s judgment against Greece for violating Directive 92/43/ EEC for the protection of nature”.
They recall the long delays noted in the Special Environmental Studies and the issuance of the presidential decrees characterizing and defining land uses and activities for the areas of the Natura 2000 network, clarifying that this fact in no way justifies “the creation of ad hoc piecemeal regulations that fragment the essentially the protective status of these areas”.
City planners: Deviation from current regulations and ambiguity
The Greek Association of Town Planners and Spatial Planners (SEPOH) speaks for a retreat from the existing institutional framework on important issues, stressing that although it concerns the coastal zone, it does not follow the definitions and methodology proposed by the 7th protocol of the Barcelona Convention for the Integrated Management of Mediterranean Coastal Zones.
“The proposed bill is in stark contrast to the obligation to plan the coastal area as a valuable asset and ecosystem. There is no comprehensive consideration of coastal and marine space, a fact that is aggravated by the absence of marine planning. Priority and emphasis are given to management issues and “exploitation” of public property”.
SEPOH underlines that newly introduced definitions, such as “coasts and beaches of high protection”, are characterized by ambiguity, which burdens the effective protection of Natura 2000 areas, while there is a retreat in terms of conditions and restrictions when granting simple use.
Opposite and KEDE
The KEDE also expressed its absolute disagreement with the transfer of the responsibility for granting the simple use of seashore and beach from the municipalities to the Greek State and ETAD in a meeting of its Board of Directors, where it was analyzed by lawyers that the regulation conflicts with the Constitution.
The mayors pointed out that the bill removes essential responsibilities from the municipalities, without any previous relevant dialogue. With regard to the electronic lease, KEDE considers that the procedure should be carried out by the relevant municipalities, through the website www.kede.gr, in collaboration with Gov.gr, based on the precedent of the correction platform of the t. m. of buildings, implemented and implemented by the Municipalities.
The elected officials point out that the deprivation of the said authority by the Municipalities essentially conflicts with article 102 par.1 of the Constitution as:
the simple granting of use of the shared promenade and the beach is an indisputable “local matter” which according to the Constitution belongs to the OTAs.
subject to the above, the management (and thus the granting of use as a management act) of the beaches, belongs by “presumption of competence” to the OTAs.
the provision in question also conflicts with article 101 paragraph 4 of the Constitution as it constitutes a “regulatory action” on the part of the common legislator, which does not take into account the special conditions of the island regions”.
Platforms for the disabled and lifeguards
According to the recommendation of the Committee on Institutions and Transparency, the municipality must have the authority to mark the points for the placement of the special platforms to serve people with disabilities (sea tracks), while the concessionaire must bear the costs for the salary of the lifeguard and his equipment and that no set-off shall be made in exchange for the concession.
For the provisions of the bill regarding the obligations of the municipalities, such as, among others, to ensure the daily cleaning of common areas, the timely recruitment of lifeguards, before March 31 of each year, the provision of appropriate equipment, the placement of appropriate lifeguard observatories and in general for taking measures for the protection and safety of bathers and workers, the installation of special access platforms for people with disabilities (sea tracks), the exercise of checks on compliance with concession conditions, etc., KEDE underlines that essential and highly objective difficulties of the municipalities, in relation to the exercise of the envisaged powers, specifically:
lack of staff,
the problems in the process of recruiting and paying lifeguards,
the lack of municipal police forces in dozens of municipalities,
inability to exercise audit powers.
However, several businessmen pointed out that the under-staffing of the ETAD cannot guarantee the success of the process and will cause new problems, while others asked to remove the provision of sealing a shop, which is provided for in cases of repeated infringement.
Source ethnos.gr