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Thodoris Chondrogiannos 26 • 07 • 2021

The government disregards environmental protection with an unconstitutional amendment that facilitates off-plan construction

Thodoris Chondrogiannos
The government disregards environmental protection with an unconstitutional amendment that facilitates off-plan construction
26 • 07 • 2021

In breach of the legal framework on legislative amendments and public consultation legislation, in July 2021 the government introduced a last-minute amendment to an unrelated bill, laying down looser rules for off-plan construction. The illegal and unconstitutional amendment is foreseen as having a negative impact on the environment and on non-urban areas.

The last minute, irrelevant amendment was submitted on July 19, 2021, the night before the main bill was due to be voted on. With it, the government established the right to build on plots of 750m2 and above outside the town plan. Previously, the law allowed building outside the town plan only on plots of 4000m2 and above. The amendment was added to a bill concerning waste management and recycling and this was of course after the bill had completed the initial legislative process in the relevant parliamentary committee and consultation processes. The bill was passed into law as 4819/2021.

Apart from the fact that in this case the rules of good legislation for amendments provided by the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament were not observed, the new urban planning regulation also violated the rules of public consultation as well as the legislation for open government, since it was never posted, as required by law, on the website opengov.gr, but was literally submitted to Parliament overnight.

SEPOH noted that, “the continuous amendments to the urban, spatial and environmental provisions, and in particular the amendments to the recent ‘reform’ laws 4685/2020 and 4759/20 without substantive justification and, above all, without any possibility of consultation, highlight the lack of a structured planning policy and ultimately the submission of urban and environmental planning to opaque interests.” They requested the withdrawal of the urban planning provisions as well as the amendments “to allow the necessary time for their thorough study and evaluation by all stakeholders.”

Despite the reactions from the political arena (indicative: A vicious and short-sighted urban planning regulation, Stefanos Manos, TA NEA, 22.07.2021), the Greek government proceeded to vote on the amendment, creating a more unfavorable framework for the protection of the environment from off-plan construction.

Where is the problem with the rule of law?

The purpose of the above rules is to allow enough time for the proper legislative and consultation processes to be followed, allowing input both from MPs and from the public – of any regulation proposed by ministers in the form of amendments. The practice of submitting last minute amendments bypasses scrutiny procedures and ultimately represents a lack of accountability in the legislative process concerning laws that may affect the rights and lives of millions of citizens.

Despite the existence of rules and laws governing the entirety of the legislative process, including amendments, the government ignored these rules and submitted an amendment that was both irrelevant to the main bill and was not submitted in a timely enough manner to undergo parliamentary or public scrutiny.

Thodoris Chondrogiannos
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