The relevant government minister on Wednesday evening promised the swift tabling of legislation foreseeing height and size “bonuses” for new construction, after an abrupt abrogation of a previously passed law that was struck down by the Council of State (CoS).
News of the ruling – which has yet to be officially published – by the plenary session of Greece’s highest administrative court sent “shock waves” through the country, especially the construction sector and property owners.
In an immediate reaction hours after the ruling was revealed, Environment and Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis promised that a new draft bill will be immediately prepared and sent to Parliament, “so there’s transparency and legal security” in the building sector.
Environment & Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis
The now quashed law included provisions for essentially allowing a greater height for buildings on a smaller expanse of land.
Other provisions allowed extra storeys to be added to current buildings, especially apartment buildings.
Skylakakis defended the previous initiative as attempting to change the structure of Greece’s current urban areas, as he said, where buildings take up a larger expanse of a plot of land but are relatively low in height – four to five storeys, at times six, is common in Greece.
“This makes them (Greek cities) unsustainable in the long term, amid an environment of worsening climate crisis and rising temperatures,” he said.
One “silver lining” in the judicial “cloud” cast over the government’s building sector policy is the fact that the ruling, by all accounts, will not have a retroactive effect, meaning that all construction licenses issued to date are valid.
Another “loophole” will reportedly allow for new licenses to be issued under the now unconstitutional law in the period before the ruling is officially published.
Skylakakis focused on the specific points, noting that “just as importantly, this ruling does not affect any existing building (other than those already under appeal), whether completed or in any way where work has commenced … This would create very serious legal uncertainty, and it would adversely affect thousands of citizens and professionals.”
In promoting the previous law, the center-right government pointed to more greenspace allocated around new buildings, “green” roofs etc.
