The bill of the Ministry of Shipping and Insular Policy was voted by a majority by the Plenary of the Parliament: “Ratification of the Subconcession Agreement from October 30, 2024 between the Greek State, on the one hand, and the company “Fund for Utilization of Private Property of the State S.A.” and the company “Corfu Port Authority S.A.”, and on the one hand the company “Lamda Corfu Marina Sole Proprietorship for the Development and Exploitation of the Corfu Marina” and the company “Lamda Marinas Sole Proprietorship Holdings and Development of Tourist Ports” regarding the right to build, operate, manage, maintain and exploit the Tourist Port of Large Ships Corfu (Megayacht Marina)”.

ND voted in favor of the bill, PASOK voted “absent” and SYRIZA, KKE, New Left, Hellenic Solution, Niki and Pleussi Eleftherias voted against.

The Deputy Minister of Shipping and Insular Policy, Stefanos Gikas, spoke about a very large project, which will bring development, profits for the country and the local community and thousands of jobs and he responded to the points of criticism of the opposition who spoke about granting public land to the private sector, without the corresponding benefits for the State and for the island of Corfu, deficits of the contract that will bring environmental and other effects.

Mr. Gikas stated that the Marina has been zoning since 2007-2008, with all the procedures foreseen, the decision to approve environmental conditions expires in 2028, while in the Ionian Islands region there is a marine tourism development plan that provides for marinas on the western coasts of the country, but also on the Ionian Islands, such as the Marina of Corfu, the large Marina in Platygiali Etoloakarnania, the Marina of Kefalonia, the Marina in Kafe Gyali of Corfu and the Marina in Igoumenitsa and other marinas, “which will create a marine tourism hub there, so as to “brake” the flow of marine tourism that exists towards competing countries”.

He pointed out that a marina is being created from scratch, the construction will take about 50 million euros, and the benefits for the Greek State will be 7.7% of the revenues, the turnover of the marina, will go to the State. There is also a list of guaranteed incomes totaling 79 million. If the revenue of this marina does well and there is a lot of development, then the revenue that the state will get will be even more. And based on the laws, 50% of these revenues, i.e. of the 79-80 million, 50%, i.e. 40 million, must go to the development and upgrading of ports and port facilities that we need. Well, the benefits are many. The benefits, of course, are many for the local community. It is not only the new jobs that will be created, but each marina is a hub of development that spills over into the local community. He also presented a study by the London School of Economics, in our country, which states that if an additional 1,000 large ships are docked, at least 23,000 jobs, indirect and direct, will be created.

He also explained that in Corfu there is a designated marina, for which a study of environmental conditions has been carried out and it has the agreement of the then administration of the Region and the Municipality with the respective decisions of the Councils and emphasized that the concerns of the Region Governor and the Mayor are understandable, but they are in favor of this important investment for the place. He informed that the Marina will be designed based on modern standards of energy efficiency and environmental management to become a “green” port, which means reducing emissions, limiting pollution, utilizing renewable energy sources and efficient water and waste management. The responsible deputy minister underlined that the company was obliged, apart from the minimal projects which are clearly written in the contract, to say what it will do until 2029 – 2030 which is the end of all the projects that are going to be done. Among them are the water resources and waste treatment unit and energy production and storage units for RES, renewable energy sources.

In relation to the objections of the parties regarding the role of the State, he read the sanctioning law, according to which “the supervision of the activities within the tourist port of Corfu, as well as within its land and sea zone, is carried out by the State, in accordance with the provisions and existing legislation” in order to emphasize that there is nothing to cause concern. He added that the administrative approval of the studies, including the approvals of modifications of these projects, is granted by the Region of the Ionian Islands, as foreseen, so the first and second grade Local Government will be involved in this effort.

The parties

The rapporteur of PASOK, Stavros Michailidis, initially referred to the positions of the Regional Governor of the Ionian Islands and the mayor of Corfu according to which the local community and its Authorities were ignorant of the project and were never invited to a consultation in order to correct the behavior of the State towards the Self-Government for a project which – as he said – should have the first say. After making it clear that the official opposition party recognizes the necessity for the construction of this infrastructure, this particular one has too many elements that raise doubts, for example in terms of environmental management, the costs that will be borne along the way even by the State (which has no work, for example, to retrieve the wrecks and detect pollution) the compensations, which it expects to receive and the State but also the local government, which will not receive a single euro and the control of the progress and execution of the project. “The whole spirit of the contract leans towards a contract that is more interested in the sub-concessionaire in real estate, than in the creation of a marina with the prospect of meeting the needs of the Ionian and coping with the competition of the neighboring states, which are advancing” Mr. Michaelidis concluded.

From SYRIZA, the special buyer, Alexandros Meikopoulos, said that the case of the Corfu marina is not an isolated project, it is the mirror of a policy and does not concern only one investment, it concerns what Public means in today’s Greece. “When the state abdicates its responsibility, when the local community is ignored, then we do not have an investment, but we have a loss of the very meaning of public interest. This contract takes public property not as a development tool, but as an asset to be granted, to be sold. We saw it in Igoumenitsa and Heraklion. No substantial investment, great social reactions. Even your executives are distancing themselves today. We saw it in Volos, where the failed privatization left behind “It’s an administrative mess. Even in the case of Corfu, where the form is a sub-concession agreement, which is supposed to utilize the Corfu marina for the so-called mega yachts, the essence does not change: We have the delivery of public property in exchange for paltry and conditions that essentially undermine the public interest,” he said.

The special buyer of the KKE, Nikolaos Papanastasis, emphasized that “the project is well-known and well-played”: They are giving public land to business groups, depriving them of land that could be used for the popular strata, for recreation, for the creation of a municipal beach and many other uses, and they are endangering free access to the beach, which is the only way out for the residents of the wider area of Mandouki, as well as the city of Corfu, while with the expulsion of the carnage that is in the Marina creation area, from the revenues that this investment will bring, will go into the pockets of the Marina investors, not a single euro will be given for the workers and residents of the area. At the same time, he spoke of contamination, noise pollution, worsening traffic, burden on the electricity and water supply infrastructures, next to a densely populated area of ​​the city, which is suffocating from abandonment, the lack of infrastructure, school roofs and open spaces.

Thodoris Dritsas, a specialist buyer from the New Left, after saying that the contract was signed in the absence of the local community, as the Regional Governor and Mayor informed the Committee, emphasized that this investment is made without any forecast as to what it might mean for all the basic issues of the city’s operation: traffic, environmental pollution, water supply, drainage and others, and the contract has an extreme legal uncertainty. “The investor’s expectations are not only to take the port fees from the 140-meter or fifty-meter boats and provide services, but also to build an oversized hotel unit,” added Mr. Dritsas.

Stylianos Fotopoulos, on behalf of the Hellenic Solution, underlined that behind the pompous expressions about development and investment, the reality is completely different: Corfu, an island with priceless cultural, historical and natural wealth, is gradually turning into a field of private investments, which serve the interests of a few and with the new marina, the public space is even more limited, the access of citizens to the sea becomes more difficult and the economic activity it focuses on luxury services, disconnected from the real needs of the local community, which the government did not ask about anything.

The specialist buyer from Niki, Spyridon Tsironis, pointed out that there is no serious study that analyzes the impact the marina will have on the natural, social, urban or economic environment and the decisions taken seem to be based solely on investor requests or private interests, without taking into account the needs of society, the plans of the local government or the public interest, while the way the investments are made shows that nothing is controlled.

Tzortzia Kefala from Pleussi Eleftherias, observed that when we talk about investments, in fact, the feeling we all have is that we are ceding, granting, and even with seriously little in return, and mentioned in relation to this specific contract that there are neither environmental studies, nor a strategic environmental impact study, nor measurable performance criteria and number of jobs, so that we know what the benefit is in the end. “We are giving a marina for the humiliating amount of 9.7 million euros, in addition to the rest that will come over time, because a company must first earn to be able to give,” he said and asked for some social return clauses.

The rapporteur of the majority, Panagis Kappatos, emphasized that the bill for the Subconcession Agreement for the Marina of Corfu’s Large Ships, is a project with a total investment of 50 million euros, lasting 40 years, which provides for the creation of a Tourist Port with a capacity of 100 large ships and a total of 400 berths with a land area of 39,000 square meters, with a one-time consideration of 9.7 million euros and a variable fee that will serve the 79 million for the State and the Corfu Port Authority. It includes the transfer of the carnage to Ormos Potamos, the creation of new facilities and the utilization of marine tourism as a pillar of development.

“It is a project that brings revenue, jobs, know-how, environmental upgrading and international visibility. This is the real content of the bill. Not ideological phobias, but a concrete plan for a Greece that invests, that progresses and that believes again in its strengths,” said Mr. Kappatos, addressing the Opposition.