With an extrajudicial letter sent to the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, the Association of Hellenic Archaeologists responds to the reasons included in the ministerial decision of 11/08/2023 by which the concession to SEA of the building located at 134-136 Ermou Street was revoked.

As the SEA states, among other things, in its announcement, “the Association responds by citing the jurisprudence on how unions operate, the statutory purposes of the SEA and the non-interference of the minister in its internal procedures”, “clarifies that in designated monuments : “the licensing of the Ministry of the Interior is required for the temporary concession of their use and not for each event that takes place within the use already licensed by the Ministry of the Interior (in the context of concession decisions to specific entities indefinitely)” and “reminds that no licenses are issued by the YPPO nor are fees collected in favor of the ODAP for the events that take place, indicatively: In the Zappeio Megaron, in the Trilogy of the University, in the Polytechnic, in the Numismatic Museum, in the National Archaeological Museum, in the ICOM building, in the building of the WTO YPPO, in SADAS, the Mitsotakis Foundation, the Samaras Foundation, and in all the properties belonging to the YPPO in Plaka and Kerameikos that have been granted to associations or other third parties for use, in the neoclassical buildings that house Banks, restaurants or other private businesses”.

Finally, SEA calls on the Minister of Culture to “immediately revoke her illegal decision by revoking the concession, reserving in the opposite case for the exercise of any legal, judicial, administrative or trade union competitive means for its annulment”.