By Penelope Galliou

Guided by its pre-election commitments to crack down on any pathology that holds back the state, but also favors distorted state-citizen relations, the government continues with its reform plan, starting with today’s first meeting of the Council of Ministers for 2024.

The central topic of today’s meeting is the new regulations for arbitrary, which will be presented by Minister of Environment and Energy Theodoros Skylakakis and Deputy Minister Nikos Tagaras, in the context of the legislative initiatives for the urban reform.

The focus of the legislative initiative is to deal with illegal construction, with the provision to demolish on priority the recent illegal constructions that have been erected in recent years, especially from 2022 onwards. With the help of technology, in a very short time, the Public will be able to detect new arbitrary constructions and proceed with demolition before completion of work. In this context, the penalties for violators will be stricter, with immediate fines and execution of demolitions.

The draft law will, among other things, provide for the close monitoring of arbitrary construction through aerial photography and the use of artificial intelligence. It is a digital system interconnected with the building permit system, in order to detect in real time the construction of new arbitrary buildings and to activate the control and repressive mechanism. The aim is that when a new arbitrary construction is detected, the competent services will intervene for the immediate demolition, in addition to the fines that will also be imposed.

“All the arbitrariness that will be built here and from now on will be demolished,” said the Minister of Environment and Energy, Thodoros Skylakakis, in a televised interview with OPEN, admitting that the arbitrariness, “whether small, large, or outrageous, was very widespread in the country us. We are talking about millions of cases of arbitrary construction,” said Mr. Skylakakis.

At the same time, the new bill updates the controls for arbitrary constructions, in order to deal with the malfunctions or overlapping of responsibilities that have been observed in the process of identifying and imposing sanctions for arbitrary constructions. A fact, which will contribute to speeding up the procedures and avoiding obstacles that were observed by tricks of the encroachers in order to delay the decisions on demolitions.

The bill it will also provide for mandatory checks at regular intervals by building inspectors, with priority in facilities in tourist areas, where there are hotels or seaside businesses. After the inspections, a construction inspection certificate will be issued to these companies, so that the inspections can be identified.

The same bill is expected to provide solutions to other urban planning issues that are taking time, as it is going to provide an answer to the problem of thousands of owners of “blind” plots, outside the plan, so that they can build, as long as they meet the rest of the conditions set and while paying the relevant environmental end. A solution that will give breath to thousands of owners, until the new urban planning is finalized with a time horizon of 2025.

In addition to the urban reform on the agenda of today’s Cabinet on the 11th, the following are planned:

-Presentation by the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Kostis Hatzidakis, of the legislative initiatives: a) Conditions for the utilization of public property in coastal areas, b) Incorporation of Directive 2022/252/EU regarding ensuring a global minimum level of taxation of multinational business groups and of large-scale domestic groups in the Union,

-Presentation by Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilia and Deputy Minister Christos Triandopoulos of the Private Disaster Insurance and Government Relief Bill,

-Presentation by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras of the initiatives for the reform and modernization of the railway sector: a) Proposal for the creation of “Neos OSE S.A.”, b) Strategic plan for the development and investment of the railway sector,

-Presentation by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Gerapetritis and Deputy Minister Giorgos Kotsiras of the Strategic Plan for Hellenism Abroad,

-Presentation by Minister Dimitris Papastergiou of the bill for the implementation measures of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 regarding the single market for digital services.