The bill amends a radical reform of the process of locating and demolishing arbitrary constructions.
Demolitions are prioritized and first listed shall be all recent arbitrary structures erected after January 1, 2024, all arbitrary structures built after July 28, 2011, and those brought under false pretenses.
The necessary funds for the demolition of all arbitrary constructions of the two previous years is comprised in the budget of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
The responsibilities for detecting unauthorized construction are transferred to the General Directorate of the Corps of Inspectors and Auditors of the Ministry of Environment and Energy
At the Ministry of Environment and Energy, a Unified Electronic Complaint System is established, accessible through the Unified Digital Portal (EPSP-gov.gr) in which citizens' complaints will be registered.
The design, overall support, management and production operation, technological development, upgrading and support of E.IS.Y.KA. is assigned to the Technical Chamber of Greece (T.E.E.), under the supervision of the Ministry of Environment and Energy.
For submitting the complaint, a fee of €200 is paid to the Green Fund. The amount will be refunded to the complainant if the complaint is even partially verified by the building inspectors.
The income of the account is used to pay the compensation of the building inspectors who carry out the inspections, as well as the travel and accommodation expenses of the officials who make up the inspection levels.
The owner may, within 30 days of the post-mortem report being posted on the property, proceed with the demolition of the arbitrariness. In the case of voluntary demolition, 50% of the construction fine will be waived and the criminal prosecution will also cease. Otherwise, the arbitrary is demolished by the public while the expense is attributed to the owner and collected in accordance with the Public Revenue Collection Code.
The fines
The construction fine is equal to the value of the arbitrariness (Aa) multiplied by the environmental burden factor (Sp). The value of the freehold is calculated as the product of its area, multiplied by the zone price (T.Z.) of the area of the property. Especially for the arbitrariness located within protected areas, i.e. within Natura areas, forests, streams, foreshore, shared beach-bank, shared riparian zone, water feature, bottom and subsoil of the seabed, lagoon, lake and navigable riverbed, zone port and archaeological site of zone A, an additional factor of 1.2 is imposed on the fine.
From the walling of the autopsy report until the demolition or legalization of the trespassers, if provided for, a fine for untimely demolition equal to 50% of the construction fine is imposed for each year of non-restoration of the trespass.
The unauthorized construction fines will be paid in 30 equal monthly installments and the untimely demolition fines in 12 monthly installments. If the fine due is paid in full within the first month from the confirmation of the fine to the competent financial authority, a discount of 30% of the amount is provided.
If the obligee complies with the urban planning provisions and restores the urban planning violation by removing the use or demolishing the arbitrary construction or issues the prescribed building permit where permitted, within a period of four months from its determination no fine for late demolition is imposed and the erection fine is limited to the minimum amount of €250.
Against the autopsy report, the interested party will be able to appeal to the Central Council for Town Planning Issues and Disputes B' within ten days of the autopsy report being affixed to the property. The possibility of appeal will not be given if during the inspection it is found that construction work is being carried out and there is no valid sign of the project, if it is arbitrary in forests, on public lands, on the seashore, in the beach zone, in the A zone of an archaeological site, in a historical place, traditional settlement etc.
The appeal must be accompanied by proof of payment to the "Green Fund" of €200 for violations up to 30 sq.m., €500 for violations up to 80 sq.m. and €1,000 euros for violations of more than 80 sq.m.
The decision on the appeal will be issued within one month of its submission.
The fee will be returned to the appellant if the appeal is accepted, in whole or in part.
The owners or principals of the construction or installation of arbitrary constructions or changes of use respectively and their construction contractors are punished with a prison sentence of at least two years and a fine of between 5,000 euros and 50,000 euros.
The "Organization of Thessaly Water Management Company Limited"
The bill envisages the transfer of the fragmented responsibilities for the waters of Thessaly that was to date handled by multiple authorities (Ministry of Environment and Energy, decentralized administration, the region and dozens of land improvement organizations, many of which had a problematic operation), to one entity, the "Organization of Thessaly Water Management Company Limited", which will undertake to solve the great problem of water management in Thessaly (strategic planning, irrigation, land improvements and flood protection).
Detailed plan for the offshore wind farm development
In order to speed up the promotion of the nationally important offshore wind farm development plan and the faster utilization of the national offshore wind potential which is the best in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Hellenic Hydrocarbons and Energy Resources Management Company is given the opportunity to carry out itself or through a specialist company for the purpose of surveys and measurements, which are necessary for the development of the new parks, and is significantly strengthened in personnel to promote its new responsibilities.
