by Michalis Kalogiannakis

The government of the day and the state apparatus must be consistent and not backtrack. Let alone wagging a finger at the citizens and legislating based on communication criteria. Unfortunately, in our country, all of the above happens frequently.

A recent example is the future abolition of building on parcels of land in off-plan areas, which have an area of less than 4 hectares.

The provision that was enacted was purely for communication purposes, as it was difficult to implement in such a tight timeframe, and helped to bring several other provisions that favor certain business interests under the radar of public debate.

Already 17 months have passed and 7 more months remain to see whether an extension will be granted or whether the annihilation of the value of the property of many of our fellow citizens will be implemented, with the sole responsibility of the current government and not of the citizens themselves.

Because the road designation process, which is required to issue or not issue a building permit for these parcels, has not even begun.

Because the forest map objections have not been addressed, even though some have been filed since 2017. This has resulted in several owners being stranded.

Why the demarcation of the settlements has not been started. This has resulted in properties in them being considered outside the plan or settlement, and making it impossible to issue building permits. The delay in demarcating them and the simultaneous application of the building ban on plots of less than 4 hectares exacerbates the problem.

All of the above, according to the government’s announced plan, has made little progress in the last 2 years. Despite this, citizens are not able to do anything and are simply waiting.

They are waiting for a government that forced them to “move” quickly while it “moved” at a turtle’s pace.

P.S. I have a nice habit of reading articles on a topic that were published a few weeks or months ago. Try it, it’s interesting.

If someone goes back to articles on the same subject in the same newspaper, they will see that all of the above was predicted. In this context, I expect an amendment to extend this provision to be tabled in the autumn, as usual, in some unrelated bill, and many in the opposition to speak in only communicative terms about a useless amendment, without condemning why the government is forced to “bring” it to the Greek Parliament in bad taste.