The response of squatter forest owners to its regulation has been limited. Ministry of the Environment For Residential density. Applications did not exceed 3,000, with two-thirds coming from Attica. The Environment Ministry is considering a (retroactive) extension until September, which must be decided before Holy Week, to amend the bill.

According to him Greek Land Registry, which operates a digital filing portal, had submitted 2,772 declarations until yesterday, corresponding to 382,653 illegal square meters. “Champion” in declarations – Attica with 2,094 declarations and 301,353 sq.m. arbitrarily in forests and woodlands. Corinthia follows by a very large margin, with 253 declarations and 29,226 illegal square meters, and Evia, with 106 declarations and 15,964 square meters. arbitrary. In other regional units, the number of declarations did not exceed 100, and in some, none (Arta, Zakynthos, Lesvos, Preveza, Rodopi) or only one (Arcadia, Imathia, Heraklion, Thesprotia, Kefalonia, Kozani, Lefkas, Serres) were filed. , Phthiotis).

At the level of municipalities, the first eight in terms of the number of declarations are in Attica. These are the municipalities of Salamina (336 declarations), Megara (287), Kropias (246), Rafina-Pikermiou (244), Spaton-Artemis (236), Markopoulou-Mesogaya (194), Oropou (162) and Keratea (152). .

If a decision is made to extend (perhaps until September), this can only be done through amendments and before Holy Week.

The online declaration platform went live in October 2022 with a first deadline of December 31 (extended once to date). According to sources in the Ministry of Natural Resources, the possibility of an extension until September is being considered, but a decision on it has not yet been made. In any case, if a decision is made to extend it, this can only be done through legislative regulation and before Holy Week, since then the parliament is legally “closed” in connection with the elections.

Process

Theoretically, under Law 4685/2020, once all declarations have been collected, they will be grouped by district and analyzed to decide whether groups of illegal buildings (now known as residential clusters) can be legalized. This process will be completed through the PD, and the legalized will be asked to pay a fine, the method of calculation of which has not yet been determined. In practice, of course, the owners of illegal buildings provide “immunity” from the operation of the law for an indefinite period by paying a fee of 250 euros. However, nothing prevents this scheme from suffering the same fate as the previous one: the State Council Plenary in 2019 confirmed that changing the designation of forests and forestlands is exclusively permissible for reasons of greater public interest, clearly defining that this is not their habitation. use.