Letter of 1081 members of Panathinaikos to Erasitechnis: “No to the issuance of a permit for the demolition of the Avenue”

The letter you received on March 11 from 681 members of the Panathinaikos Athletic Club ended with the phrase: “in the hope that you will show decency and due seriousness.”

Through a series of events we now find with certainty that you unfortunately have no intention of demonstrating either. Instead, you indulge in your favorite tactic of “communication fireworks” and complete distortion of the truth.

Without further ado, we would like to highlight the following, in our opinion, very important topics:

1) Just a few hours after the letter was filed, your administration deliberately distorted our request, with the apparent intent of avoiding lifetime accountability. And he made the decision to hold a press conference (in a friendly and completely controlled environment) rather than accede to our perfectly reasonable request for a dialogue with members.

We need not point out the great difference of the two processes. An open discussion is one thing, and a “controlled” press conference, which will exclusively serve the communication purposes of the administration and not the emergence of the truth, is quite another.

2) On March 27, i.e. 16 days after the submission of the letter, there was a meeting of the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Athens regarding the Double Redevelopment. During the meeting, all the concerns we had expressed in the first letter were confirmed – and more so – as we watched a continuous “ping pong” of blaming between the current and the former mayor of Athens. Worst of all was the triple, unbelievable admission of the current mayor that:

Firstly, within the area intended for the construction of the municipal football stadium in Eleonas, the municipality of Athens has not yet expropriated (so does not own) 24 acres – 26 plots! Secondly, the municipality does not have the money to do it! Thirdly, the municipality is trying to find an end to the expropriations through “five uninformed and incomplete” lists!

3) After the above public triple admission of the current mayor, it is obvious that your administration must not consent at this point in time in any way to the issuance of a demolition permit for the Avenue. Such a development, at a time when there is no prospect of an immediate start of work on the construction of the sports facilities, will only serve the AEP Eleonas (i.e. the banks), which is in a hurry to issue the demolition permit for the Avenue, in order to restart work completion in the so-called “shopping center of Vovos”, which has been in her possession for years.

4) Any modification of the contracts must necessarily be done with the approval of the General Assembly and not with a “simple meeting” of the Board of Directors of the A.O. Approval which will be given only after detailed information to the House, where the administration will clearly explain the reasons why “such and such” point of the contracts was not respected and, also, for what reasons it is in the interest of A.O. to consent to any such modification.

We remind you that, based on the bilateral agreement A.O. – Municipality of Athens (article 10/Implementation Schedule), on December 31, 2024, the municipality must deliver to A.O. ready, complete the sports facilities for its departments. It is a matter of crucial importance, on which you continue to be deliberately silent.

In conclusion,

It is with great regret that we find that while two years have passed since the vote was held, you are doing nothing to enforce the contracts, resulting in them being violated by the other parties to the detriment of the A.O.

Equally impressive is that you don’t feel the slightest need to explain this idle attitude of yours to the members.

The largest club in the country with, for decades, its own stadium in the best and most central part of Athens, it is not possible to continue to drag on with the role of “dispassionate observer” in the case of the construction of the municipal football field and the municipal sports facilities of Eleonas .

The prolongation of this sad situation is an insult to the history of the Association and to the memory of those who created, labored and giantized the Panathenaic Idea.

The banter has to end at some point…

P.S.: We invite all members of the Panathinaikos A.O. in constant vigilance and to confirm whether they are financially aware. Because as far as the developments show, the defense of the Association’s interests will be “in the hands” of its members.