Parliament: The bill on simplification of environmental licensing was passed

More than 16 hours were spent discussing the bill on the simplification of environmental licensing in the plenary session of the Parliament. The bill was approved with the votes of the government majority in the early hours of the morning, and after Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas had previously withdrawn the chapter on permitted land use in protected areas. It was also preceded by a series of «legislative and technical improvements», including the imposition of a cap on the monthly fee for electricity bills.

«It is no coincidence that Greece is currently enjoying higher economic growth rates than the European average,» said Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas, closing the marathon debate in the plenary session of the bill on the simplification of environmental licensing. «This did not happen by chance. They happened because there is a coordinated plan, there is a programme that is being implemented and has brought results, has brought investments. Greece is now a very attractive destination for investment capital and this means jobs, an increase in income and ultimately an increase in the quality of life,» Costas Skrekas said, stressing that this is the only way to prosperity and progress, «because progress with words is not possible. Progress comes with actions and initiatives that the government promotes.».

The Minister of Environment and Energy, referring to «offshore wind», said that it is an important initiative for the exploitation of the country's abundant wind potential, «in a sea area that does not disturb, that does not cause damage to the environment, that does not disturb the inhabitants», promoting the sustainability of the economy and society.

Kostas Skrekas also referred to the controversial chapter of the bill on uses in protected areas, which he announced that he was withdrawing while the debate on the bill was going on in the plenary. «This chapter was withdrawn to give us the opportunity to have a better look at it and to discuss it again. It does not mean that the provision we had made was in the wrong direction. We want to analyze our plan even more, with dialogue with us and with environmental organizations, so that we can finally convince that these initiatives are in the interest of the environment,» he added: «if you look at the special environmental studies that come to the ministry in order to then go out for public consultation, you will see that the designers, in order to be able to prepare these studies, have gone, on their own, to derogate from the law. In essence, they have violated the law and have produced studies that cannot be submitted, cannot be submitted to the Council of State and certainly will never be able to issue the Presidential Decrees. This is what we are trying to help solve so that there really are studies that will help protect the environment. Do not forget that SYRIZA, which did nothing to protect these areas, comes today and accuses us of alleged convictions of the European Court, while these took place due to the inefficiency of the five years that governed this country.

Earlier, and in the order in which they took the floor, MP25«s special rapporteur Kriton Arsenis referred to the »arrests« of protesters »after the hooliganism of the riot police against the march for forests and water«. As the MP said, »it was a march that was brutally dispersed, without any reason«, after »the march for Michaelides was dispersed«, and, as he noted, »in the GADA, the laws on the communication of demonstrators with their lawyers are not applied«. »That is, in the GADA, the laws are not applied, in the Parliament, the Constitution and the decisions of the CoE are not respected. I am very much afraid for my country. We have a gradual and steady democratic drift and we have reached the extreme drift, the abolition of the binding nature of the decisions of the CoE. What we are voting for water is ignoring the binding nature of the decisions of the CoE, ignoring the Constitution and violating it,« said Kriton Arsenis and added »at the time when Valia Kalda and the forest of Dadia are burning, the people who were demonstrating about the fires and the environment were attacked with the WATER, with the people who were demonstrating about the fires and the environment. Use the water to put out a fire, ladies and gentlemen of the government. While the most iconic national parks are burning, you bring in a bill that doesn't have a single tightening of environmental laws. On the contrary, it dismantles NATURA areas, allows mining, allows RES everywhere, violates the European Directives, restricts in every way the protection of the environment.".

«There is a critical dimension to the environmental issue. It is the class dimension and this dimension is highlighted by the KKE, with its interventions and actions», said the special rapporteur of the KKE, Ioanis Delis, and stressed that «the environmental issue is neither ataxic nor over-taxic. It is an eminently class issue». Delis denounced that it is the business groups that will benefit from the provisions of the bill on the simplification of environmental licensing and environmental controls, «it is for them that the bill speaks and refers to.» The KKE MP commented that with the withdrawal of the chapter on uses in protected areas, «a maneuver was made by the government, with its withdrawal, the temporary withdrawal.» He also wondered who offshore wind farms are aimed at, to note that «all these facilities highlight the class dimension of the environmental issue», at a time when «the OFYPEKA (Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency) is becoming a key tool for the commercialisation of environmental policy».

PASOK's special rapporteur George Arvanitidis observed that «the fact that the minister took back a whole chapter of the bill justifies the criticism of his party». «The government felt the pressure of both the environmental organizations and the scientific service of the Parliament,» said Arvanitidis, who added that «the minister is personally honored by the fact that he took a step back today,» and «this will be completed if he changes his approach to the issue and uses the time ahead to make substantial changes.» The PASOK MP called the successive amendments made to the bill while it was being debated in plenary deliberate. «So after suspending and not repealing, of course, the indexation clause, which was incorporated, in essence, into the bills. You are now coming now to adjust the fixed charge on the bills. But things would have been much simpler if the government had adopted, from the outset, our proposal for a cap on the retail price of electricity,» Arvanitidis said.

The rapporteur of SYRIZA, Hara Kafantari, accused the government of «treating the issue of the environment as a real obstacle to development». Despite all his efforts, the minister has not been able to convince citizens of the correctness of the energy policy and the price setting, the indexation clause, at a time when the power cut orders are in six figures in July, said Kafantari. She also complained that «bad lawmaking continues», with the bill being passed in the House today being a prime example, as 87 articles were consulted and now 178 articles are being passed. He also said that the narrative of protecting protected areas had «collapsed» with the withdrawal of the relevant chapter of the bill. «This was contributed to by scientific bodies, the scientific service of the Parliament, the opposition, which raised issues in a well-founded way, but also by Civil Society and environmental organizations,» assessed the Syriza rapporteur, who stressed that all this is happening while, since the beginning of the year, 171,000 acres have been burned, between Valia Kalda and the forest of Dadia.

The rapporteur of the Southwest, Dionysis Stamenitis, said that today the debate of a very important bill was completed, and instead of the opposition participating in the debate productively, it preferred, once again, to hurl accusations and flatten everything. «The South West government is a green government. It is the government that really cares about the environment and about dealing with the consequences of the climate crisis. The path was first shown by our Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, putting all policies related to energy, climate and the natural environment quite high on his list of priorities,» said Stamenitis, who described the government's decision to increase the participation of renewable energy sources in the country's energy mix as emblematic, because they will allow for faster energy autonomy and provide more energy security and lead to lower cost prices. The rapporteur of the South-Western Party pointed out that in the last three years, this government has simplified licensing procedures for RES, brought a comprehensive plan for the country's denitrification, spatial and urban planning, regulations on single-use plastics, the first climate law since the establishment of the state, modernised environmental legislation, modernised legislation on NATURA areas, developed a programme for energy saving, a recycling programme, a programme for electrification.