A call to prosecutors across the country to prioritize maintaining unhindered access to beaches contacted the prosecutor Supreme Court.

As stated in a circular sent to prosecutors throughout the country, Hellas they don’t exist private beaches and the duty of the prosecutor’s office is to stop those who could restrict the free access of citizens to the coasts by their business or other presence. He even characterizes the issue as topical.

The circular was sent the day before yesterday by the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Panagiotis Panagiotopoulosresponsible for the supervision and coordination of the country’s prosecutors in matters of environmental protection and state property. As Mr. Panayotopoulos recalls, back in 1940, the legislator prioritized the protection of the waterfront as a “common property”, “not being able to foresee the difficulties that the waterfront and the beach would face in the coming years.”

Coastal and beach protection is our responsibility,” says Mr. Panagiotopoulos. “With our prosecutorial fist, we must make it obvious to everyone, even if by sanctions and acts of procedural coercion, that the main purpose of common things is free and unhindered access to them by the public.”

Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court urges prosecutors across the country to be especially strict in cases of “appropriation” of beaches by enterprises or residential buildings. “The law does not recognize private beaches! And if, illegal and socially immoral, there are such in areas of your jurisdiction, due to many years of complete indifference of the authorities and the absence of any control, we must return the case to its former legal situation with our prosecutorial actions! Not by themselves, of course, but with the assistance of all involved structures (…). And if he contradicts himself and deliberately does not comply with the law, then he is forced to do so by measures of procedural coercion (detention for obvious criminal offenses and misdemeanors, confiscation at your order of all things and objects related to the crime). , immediate demolition of unauthorized buildings, etc. etc.),” ​​it says.

“It is absolutely necessary, by our official conduct, to declare in every direction that we do not allow the purpose of common things to be violated, and constantly to check whether there is no concession in the use of these parts for the implementation of the activities determined by the law and which serve the bathers or the recreation of the public.”

Prosecutor A.P. Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos describes the problem as acute and speaks of arrests and confiscations if necessary.

The circular is intended to encourage the prosecutor’s office to intervene in favor of free access to the beach, while the number of complaints (in recent years) is growing from all regions of Greece, either against hotels that enclose the beaches with their amenities, which in practice makes free access difficult, or for beach bar and other similar enterprises that illegally occupy almost all beaches or, through their employees, “interfere” or even intimidate citizens who do not want to pay for their services.

In recent years, many cases have become known, especially in highly touristic areas with large hotel complexes (eg Crete, Rhodes, Halkidiki, Skiathos) or in areas with a strong local tourism business (eg Ios, Mykonos, Ilia).

“window”

Free access to the beach and the beach is protected by the Constitution, and the rules for using the beach are described by Law 2971/2001, which remains strong despite the systematic efforts of governments of the last decade to limit it.

However, there are “windows” introduced in recent years in legislation that directly affect V free access to the beach – for example, direct rental by adjacent beach businesses of the entire beach in front of them creates adjacent “fronts” of umbrella seating that do not follow the 50-50 rule (from free site to rented site). So, in tourist areas, the occupation of entire beaches, and indeed … according to the law, is a frequent phenomenon.