Ruling deals blow to plan for Athens pedestrianization
A long-planned scheme for the pedestrianization of Panepistimiou Street in central Athens appeared to have been finally scuppered on Friday after the Council of State upheld an appeal by the former head of the Technical Chamber of Greece, Ioannis Alavanos, and another 55 citizens expressing concerns about its potential environmental impact.
In a ruling by its plenary session, the country’s highest administrative court deemed as illegal a decision by the Environment Ministry early last year that had approved the pedestrianization of the central thoroughfare. The court found that the ministry’s decision had been issued as an approval of the “environmental terms of a project,” which was in fact “chiefly a scheme or plan” that violated certain town planning regulations.
The decision appeared to deal a final blow to the beleaguered project that has been in the works since 2010 but whose implementation has been dogged by objections and bureaucracy. At the end of last year, European Commission officials expressed concerns about whether the scheme, as well as separate plans to revamp the Faliro coast, were suitable for European Union funding at this point. The two projects are estimated to cost 440 million euros but Brussels reportedly sees other schemes as priorities.
