Greece’s mixed environmental record

New Democracy does very well where it sees economic sense in protecting the environment, but also pursues economic advantage to the environment's cost

A view of the marine protected zone off Gyaros (Courtesy WWF)

Greece’s ruling New Democracy has just introduced a bill that eight environmental groups say abolishes a constitutionally-mandated coastal protection zone.

This zone starts at the high watermark where waves habitually break and stretches 30-50m inland. Here, access to the sea must be unimpeded and all permanent construction is banned. Under a 2019 law, contractors may cover up to 60 percent of the coastal protection zone with sunbeds and umbrellas or light, reversible construction such as wooden decks and shacks, but small beaches of 150 sq. m. or less are off limits altogether.

The new law, the environmental groups say, abolishes this zone, and extends licensing to beaches of any size, thus removing protections from thousands of small beaches that act as natural habitats across Greece’s 14,000km-long coastline.

It is no secret that New Democracy has allowed itself to become the party of construction interests, particularly those related to tourism, and it has tried similar things before.