By Vangelis Mandravelis

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras decided this week to include the former royal estate at Tatoi, northern Athens, in the list of state properties to be utilized by the state privatization fund (TAIPED).

The 42-square kilometer property includes the former summer palace, which has suffered considerable damage due to neglect, and a forest of 39 sq.km.

The property could bring in as much as 150 million euros in revenues to the state, provided that its character be maintained and its historic heritage respected. It could include a museum, educational spaces, open-air entertainment facilities as well as catering and conference installations.

TAIPED also secured the utilization of all state properties outside the country’s borders, including buildings that used to house Greek embassies and consulates. The first list includes properties in London, Belgrade, Brussels and Ljubljana, as well as an unused plot of land on Cyprus.