Otherwise, many thousands of owners from all over the country, in order not to lose their properties, will be forced to appeal with annulment applications to the Council of State, opening a new huge cycle of lawsuits, a process that it will lead to their own financial burden and suffering, to an additional – and unprofitable – volume of work for the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also to another delay in the substantial completion of the forest maps of our country.
The full text of the letter is as follows:
To the Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. Kostas Skrekas
Athens, 22.3.2021
TOPIC: To allow objections to all reformed forest maps !
Dear Minister, Deputy Minister,
On Friday, 19 March 2021, annulment petitions against the ministerial decision signed by your predecessor, Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis, regarding the reformation of forest maps were discussed before the Plenary of the Council of State. As is well known, our Federation, which enthusiastically welcomed the government initiative, with which for the first time in a long time the Rule of Law seemed to operate in relation to the possibility of classifying / declassifying private forest lands based on legal decisions of the administration, intervened in favor of validity of this decision, supporting in practice the government initiative, which also meets the constitutional provision for the protection of property, as well as an internationally recognized Human Right that everyone must respect and not violate.
However, during the development of the case by the Vice-President of the State Legal Council, we heard, with a very unpleasant surprise, that there is talk of a circular that significantly limits the scope of this important reform, removing the right of property owners, the which are also included in the new forest maps as forest, to exercise their right of objection! We found that the reference was made to the circular of the Deputy Minister Mr. G. Amyras on the subject: “Posting reformed forest maps, in application of par. 10 article 48 of Law 4685/2020”, according to which “only the reformed part of the forest map”. The above interpretation is clearly contrary to the legislative provision, as well as the relevant ministerial decision, but also completely unfair and consequential, in relation to earlier circulars of the Ministry.
Specifically, with the circular number 153393/ 918/ 12.4.2017 on the subject: “Instructions for areas of the posted forest map with applicable acts of the administration”, which was issued by the head of the competent General Directorate for Development and Protection of Forests and Forest Environment, posted in the “Clarity” system with posting number 6ΔΜ04653Π8-ΦΧΒ, the following was defined:
“Consequently, in areas presented as forest in the old state and non-forest in the recent (DA), which are definitive concessions, distributions and redistributions of the agricultural legislation, are in a state of legal change of use or change of their character with the provisions of the agricultural legislation, as they apply in conjunction with the forestry provisions, there is no obligation, nor is there a need to submit objections, since there is no object of overturning the content of the forest map, which has recorded a real situation (a/f year 1945), which is justified according to the provisions of the forestry and agricultural legislation.
All the data and information mentioned in the previous paragraph will be registered, in a second year, on the forest map after the completion of their collection, which will result either from their indication by the competent services or from the comprehensive handling of this during the preparation of the Forestry”.
In other words, with the above circular the Ministry reassured and prevented the citizens from exercising the right of objections, promising to register in a second year the administrative acts resulting in a legal change of use of forest lands. Therefore, many owners, members of the unions that make up our Federation, based on the above assurances, did not object to forest maps, waiting for the developments. Already, when the reformed maps were posted, the owners were surprised to find that even now the administrative acts, which would declassify their property lands, were not included in them either.
Because therefore your Ministry with the above circular deprived the owners of the right to object to the forest maps, in violation of the letter and spirit of the law and the relevant ministerial decision, as well as its previous circulars, in the eyes of the citizens it appears today altogether as if he has misled and deceived them so that with today’s removal of the right to object they will lose their property rights…
BECAUSE WE ARE SURE THAT YOU HAVE NOT NO SUCH INTENT, please correct the above circular by explicitly stating that objections are allowed for all forest maps, after their reformation.
Otherwise, many thousands of owners from all over the country, in order not to lose their properties, will be forced to appeal with annulment requests to the Council of State, opening a new huge cycle of lawsuits, a process that will lead to their own financial burden and suffering, to an additional – and unprofitable – volume of work for the services of your Ministry, but also in yet another delay in the substantial completion of the forest maps of our country.
We sincerely ask for the immediate your intervention!
Sincerely,
For the POMIDA Board of Directors
The President The Vice President The Secretary General Stratos Paradias Charalambos Tsoutrelis Tasos Vappas style=”text-align: justify;”>Lawyer A.P.-President of UIPI Professor e.s. National Technical University of Greece Attorney at Law, Attorney at Law
