Activists skeptical about government’s beach leasing plan
Activist groups on Paros and the Cyclades islands in general, which led the movement for the public’s unhindered access to beaches, have expressed reservations about the Finance Ministry’s recent draft bill to improve the system of leasing beaches and tackle illegalities.
In a joint statement, Paros Citizen’s Action, the Archilochos Cultural Association, Friends of Paros and Antiparos, the Syros Environmental Quality Observatory and the Network for Sustainable Cyclades said beaches should be treated as a public good with free and unrestricted public access, and not as a means of profitability. They also stressed the importance of enhancing transparency at all stages of beach leasing.
They further noted that any legal intervention will prove ineffective if it does not address the basic problem that emerged in the summer – namely overlapping responsibilities between the bodies involved and staff shortages.
