In the multi-law bill submitted two weeks ago to parliament, one of 263 articles concerns the minimum distance of buildings from the sea. Allegedly, the regulation seems “indifferent”: it adds another category of tourist facilities to those that, in exceptional cases, can be built at a distance of 30 – and not 50 – meters from the embankment.

This agreement is not only an example of how exceptions to planning and environmental legislation “flow” in such a way that they eventually become the norm. This demonstrates once again how our country continues to remain deaf to the effects of climate change and instead of passing laws to protect our beaches, slowly but surely continues to do the opposite.

How close to the sea you can build today depends on many factors: whether the coastline is drawn, how large (if any) the beach area is, what special conditions exist in each area. But there is general legislation, a general rule that goes back to dictatorship. This is Legislative Decree 439/1970, establishing as a minimum distance from the sea line 30 meters for residential buildings and 50 meters for hotels. The mechanism reflected its time: the dictatorship, trying to gain political legitimacy, rewarded the “unrepentant” and anyone who promised investment. The question is why it has remained in place for almost five decades.

And not only this. The tourism industry has demanded and succeeded in having tourist residences in tourist sites assimilate into “public communities”. In 2013, Law 4179 (one of many that secured the privileged urban development status of major tourism investments in those years) decided to allow construction within 30 meters of the embankment in certain categories of tourist facilities (in tourist comfortable houses within the “complex accommodation of tourists”, in unclean tourism facilities within organized tourism development zones and in residences of organized tourism activities).

Two weeks ago section 233 of the bill… came in to right an injustice. The aforementioned exception of 30 meters from the sea applies to another type of tourist facilities – “mixed tourist accommodation”.

This is the urban model foreseen in 2020 (No. 4359) and it concerns campsites with hotels and – what else? – tourist furnished houses, some of which are available for long-term rent or sale. Therefore, the exception to the rule of 50 meters from the waterfront is not small: it applies to, in fact, all medium and large investments in tourism in our country – and it continues to expand, including new ones.

Completely ignoring the voice of environmentalists and despite the dangers of rising sea levels.

All this at a distance of furnished houses from the beach. Law 4179/2013 took care of the other needs of tourist sites ten years ago. As stipulated, “in objects of organized tourist activity, in tourist accommodation complexes, as well as in 5-star tourist accommodation facilities with a “face” on the beach of more than 100 meters, it is allowed to install 20% of this “face”. canteens and recreation areas, changing rooms, sanitary facilities, sports facilities and playgrounds up to the beach line or at a distance of 10 meters from the beach line, if the beach is not marked.

The inclusion of 5-star hotels in this scheme does not appear to have been accidental. A few months earlier, in early 2013, another attempt was made to demolish the illegal coastal structures of large hotels in Crete, which ended ingloriously after direct political interference. Thanks to this law, illegal constructions on the seashore can be legalized.

“Article 24 of the Constitution clearly reflects the obligation of the state to protect the environment. The protection of the coast is also based on this check,” explains lawyer Amalia Stamu. “In the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, there are highly visible decisions in favor of the suppression of any dangerous or harmful actions on the coast or the failure of the state to protect it. However, the planned protection of the coast often runs into polynomiality, the delay in its delimitation by the Ministry of Finance, as well as the chronic slowness and disorganization of the state. Thus (and contrary to the dictates of science, due to the climate crisis), the judiciary is deprived of the power and tools to make a quick and correct decision. Also, in addition to protecting the coastline, legal security and, of course, the application of sustainable development principles are at stake.”

But is it reasonable today to continue construction at a distance of 10 or 30 meters from the embankment? Experts say this is clearly wrong from both an environmental and an economic point of view. “The coast provides valuable ecosystem functions that have been extensively studied in recent years,” says Drosos Koutsoubas, Professor of Marine Biology at the Department of Oceanography and Marine Life Sciences, University of the Aegean. “Much of it contains important habitats, such as sand dunes, which offer valuable services and contain important species of flora and fauna. Having an adequate zone free from construction and human activity is fundamental to the protection of coastal ecosystems and ultimately people. We need to stop making laws based on ephemeral profits.”

“To talk about building at a depth of 10 or 30 meters is beyond all logic,” says Antonis Velegrakis, professor of marine geology at the same faculty at Aegean University. “All studies of the effects of the climate crisis indicate that Greece will also see sea level rise in the next 30-50 years. This will lead to extensive coastal erosion and “shifting” of the coastline inland. That is why the seventh protocol of the Barcelona Convention (which Greece, Cyprus and Italy have not ratified) specifies a minimum distance of 100 meters for development from the embankment. In the coming years, everything off the coast will be at great risk.” Construction on the seashore not only directly threatens the buildings and infrastructure located there. “Man-made structures interfere with the natural process of coastal response to water movement and beach replenishment. The wave is “reflected” from the obstacle and erodes the coast faster. In my opinion, those who build 30 meters from the beach should insure their buildings without fail and not ask the state to “rescue” them as soon as they start to flood.”