Contradictory claims by authorities
Thomas Drikos, the lawyer who represented Glyfada Municipality when court ruling 6926/2006 was issued, believes that the refusal to acknowledge the opinion of the Mixed Advisory Forestry Council is scandalous and callous on the part of the relevant ministers against the background of efforts to protect the state-owned forestland of 1,100 hectares on Mt Hymettus. «If the Ministry for Agricultural Development and Food considers the act of Piraeus Prefecture issued in 1972 as the founding act for the 1,100 hectares on Hymettus, then they should prepare to compensate owners and expropriate their properties. If the ministry is of a different opinion, then it should accept the Advisory Council’s opinion issued in 2000 at the earliest, as this opinion considers the 1,100 hectares was classified as forestland as early as 1836. The fact that the Advisory Council’s opinion also includes areas inside the Glyfada town plan is common knowledge. But as it is not possible to claim these areas and as the state consented to incorporating them in the plan, then what is the problem and why do the ministers consider that the council’s opinion harms the interests of the state? The only areas that will be affected outside the plan are the 1,100 hectares on Hymettus that are designated as forestland. The seriousness with which ministers have treated the issue is clearly illustrated by the fact that it took them seven years to put a relevant question to the Law Council. The whole affair highlights how readily politicians in this country condone illegal activity and how reluctant they are to exercise the slightest control.»
