Indifferent to those who continue urban violations V Mykonos This is the work of control and auditing bodies. This is because, even if fines are imposed and collected (about 400 in the last two years, no small number), they correspond to a very small percentage of the profitability of illegal sites. In addition, demolitions on the coast and beaches have been “frozen” for two years, so illegal immigrants are safe under the protection of the state. Characteristic of … the determination of the Ministry of the Environment to resist arbitrariness is that over the past decade, two ministers have promised extensive control over urban planning with new technologies in the Cyclades, but have never been carried out.

OUR interview in yesterday’s “K” of the archaeologist Ephorates of antiquities of the Cyclades Manolis Psarrow it was revealing. “Abuse is in proportion to the state’s tolerance,” he said, noting that many urban planning abuses in recent years have been illegally … legalized, and claims in three successive “regulation” laws are not being verified by anyone. Those who create problems may suffer the fate of Mr. Psarros, who ended up in the hospital after being attacked by strangers.

However, contrary to what one might imagine, urban planning control is exercised in Mykonos and often. From the beginning of 2018 to autumn 2022, the municipality of Syros (which owns Mykonos) received 2,807 complaints in 948 Mykonos cases. 727 were checked, in 410 cases urban planning violations were revealed and fines were imposed. In the remaining 317 urban development violations were not found. “Mykonos accounts for 70% of our work and 200% of our problems,” an urban planner said on condition of anonymity. “Complaints are received all the time – some are serious and lead to the identification of major urban development violations, others are not, they are filed in the context of personal or official “blocks”.

When you have a turnover of millions of euros a month, why should you worry about a fine of half a million or half a million? ”An engineer working on the island tells K.

Planning inspections in Mykonos is not easy, as inspectors are welcome here. “In most cases, we find more than we are told,” says the same source. But is this enough? First, inspections are conducted only on complaints, because, as in the rest of the state, the service is extremely understaffed. Secondly, fines are not enough to “get smart”. “When someone arranges an outrage next to or on the beach, he doubles the area he exploits, and hence his turnover. Even high fines do not scare. When you have a turnover of millions of euros a month, why should you worry about a fine of half a million or half a million? ”An engineer working on the island tells K.

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Over the past decade, the state has twice declared that it will “declare war” on urban sprawl in Mykonos. The first time was in 2012, after “K” revealed that they are being built arbitrarily in Mykonos in order to legalize … as built before 2011. The then Minister of the Environment, Giorgos Papakonstantinou, promised to check the aerial photographs of Mykonos. , Santorini and Rhodes. Checks have never been made. The second was in 2020 Deputy Environment Minister Dimitris Economou. “Thanks to satellite photos and the number of complaints, we will identify permits that were issued illegally or buildings with serious urban violations. Licenses will be revoked, buildings will be demolished. It is not difficult to find it, and there is a desire of the government to carry out the demolition,” he said in “K” (08/25/2020). On January 5, personnel changes took place, and Mr. Economou left the government without having time to fulfill the promise. The most interesting thing is that urban planning services in the Cyclades have orthophotomaps not of the summer of 2011 (to check the “red line” in legalization), but of 2013, since the Ministry of Natural Resources set the date – the station in question, without caring about the rest. Therefore, what was unauthorized built in 2011- 2013, easy to legalize.

“In December we applied to re-establish our own urban planning agency in Mykonos. This is much more practical, because there will be a direct presence of regulatory authorities on the island,” – says “K” the mayor of Mykonos Kostas Koukas.. “Nevertheless, in recent years, the city planners of Syros often come with inspections, I got the impression that systematic work is being done. Obviously, it is necessary to investigate the attack on an employee of the Bureau of Antiquities – today it is him, tomorrow – one of our employees. I have a feeling, however, that the urban arbitrariness on our island is not as great as it sounds these days. Those days are gone.”

No demolitions on the beach

Lawlessness on the shore and on the beach, such as those of which Mr. Psarros spoke in his interview with “K” (“the embankments of shacks turned into luxurious bars”), go unpunished under the cover of the state. Since 2021, the government has suspended the demolition of houses under the pretext of the coronavirus. The last extension expires March 31, 2023. However, in Mykonos, according to the Department of Technical Control of the Decentralized Administration of the Aegean, there are no more than ten demolition protocols pending review.

The first suspension was given in March 2021 (in an interesting coincidence, when the demolitions began in Lassithi and Chalkidiki). Of particular interest was the ruling’s rationale: the government initially argued that “freezing” the demolition of (finally identified) offenders or expelling offenders from public lands was necessary in order to give “the necessary time, given the delays caused in the long term by the pandemic, to allow legalization processes to proceed smoothly and regulation of projects of all kinds”, although the legalization or regulation of arbitrary actions on the coasts, beaches, etc. is expressly prohibited.

In the last extension, in fact, the argument was expanded: in a statement of reasons, the state expressed its sympathy with the tourist enterprises illegally occupying the sea coasts and beaches, stating that if their illegal activities were destroyed and they were expelled from the occupied territory … “they there would not be sufficient alternative possibilities.”

It is estimated that there are more than 2,500 illegal immigrants on the coasts and beaches across the country. Three years ago, the Green Fund allocated about 6.5 million euros to finance decentralized administrations for the demolition of forests and beaches, but since the suspension, resources have been directed to other projects. The only demolition on the beach in recent years took place in January in the cedar forest of Alikos, Naxos, where the Green Fund allocated 540,000 euros for the demolition of a dilapidated hotel.