The state aid framework to support owners and tenants who lived in the block of flats on Arcadia to the Vineyardswhich was severely damaged by the bomb explosion, the Prime Minister announced Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a meeting he had with them in the morning at Megaros Maximos.

The prime minister noted that the Greek State will undertake the full restoration of the apartment building – in which there are 44 properties, including 9 business premises – having secured a private donation from GEK TERNA. At the same time, the tenants will be compensated for their household goods that were destroyed.

For the 9 to 12 months that the work on the apartment building is expected to last, the owners will have the option of receiving a housing benefit to find a place to rent and relocating to the Ministry of National Defense camps in Agios Andreas. Tenants, as they look for new housing, will be able to stay in the Agios Andreas residences until the end of March 2025.

Also, for those of the owners and tenants who wish, the possibility of extending their stay in the hotel where they are currently housed at state expense, until finding a house to rent, is being considered.

The costs of transporting the household goods of the owners to a place indicated by them will be covered by the state, while there will be a facility for the tenants as well.

Special care is also expected for those who have suffered damage in the exercise of professional activity related to the apartment building.

The drawing up of the new aid framework was launched immediately after the apartment building was deemed totally unfit for habitation based on a second statics expert opinion, which the government requested from the TEE in order to fully ensure the protection of the residents of the area.

The Ministry of Family and Social Cohesion has appointed a contact link with the residents for any problems that arise, while the General Secretariat of Civil Protection is in constant communication with them. Minister of State Akis Skertsos gave a detailed presentation of the state aid framework to the affected.

Here are the positions of the prime minister and residents:

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Welcome, first of all, and we are glad to have you with us. I understand how difficult and shocking this experience must have been. We were also called upon to manage a situation we had never faced before, with what was essentially a terrorist attack that did not unfold as fortunately planned, but had tragic consequences for your own daily life and your assets, a complete disruption of the way you whom you lived That is why we bent over the problem and today we would like to present to you a framework of interventions, short-term as well as long-term.

What I can tell you – before I give the floor to Akis and Sofia, to tell you how we can support you from now until the apartment building is rebuilt – is that I have secured a donation from GEK TERNA, so that all the interventions that are needed in the apartment building as soon as possible in terms of its stability, taking into account the study and the work done by the Technical Chamber, so that as soon as possible be able to go back to your normal life and restore the apartment building and make it even better than it was before.

So that’s something that I want to get going as soon as possible and we’re left with, obviously, all the processes that need to be done to support you from now until the apartment building is delivered.

Before I give the floor to Akis, give me an idea if there are things that I personally need to know about what happened and how much more we can help you.

John Terzis: First of all, thank you for having us. You give us at least a hope, because we have serious problems, not only accommodation and professional rehabilitation. So far we are fine where we live, but we want to get back to our daily life, our schedule, as soon as possible.

Antonis Psaroudakis: Thank you very much and now that we are calmer we realize that the state can stand by the citizen when it wants to, because at the beginning we too were desperate and we thank you very much.

We want to make a special mention, because we had a direct communication with Mr. Chrysochoidis, who stood by us, Mr. Papageorgiou who stood and still stands by us and we thank him very much for all the interest he has shown and the rehabilitation he has done to the affected with shelter and feeding.

And a special mention to the Commander of the Ampelokipi Police Department, who stood not only as a professional, but also as a human being, that is, it is incredible. Our Christina, we call her Christina now.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Sofia Zacharakis, the Ministers of State Makis Voridis and Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister of National Defense Yiannis Kefalogiannis, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Giorgos Mylonakis, the Secretary General of the Prime Minister Stelios Koutnatzis, the Secretary General of Civil Protection Vassilis Papageorgiou, the President of TEE Giorgos Stasinos and the Deputy CEO and General Technical Director of TERNA Alexandros Michaelidis.