S. Famellos: Government exposed on the issue of forest maps

After two years of absolute governmental chaos in forest maps, The latest extension of the objection process could be described as a travesty, were it not for the fact that it is a ticking time bomb for the rule of law and environmental protection in Greece.

We would like to remind you that, thanks to the government's persistence and efforts SYRIZA, In May 2019, our country had posted forest maps for 55% of its territory and had ratified 44% (when in 2015 the percentage of ratified forest maps was only 0.8%), all other forest maps had also been commissioned through international tenders (45% of the country). The plan was to complete the studies in 2019 and to publish and ratify the vast majority of them in 2020.

However, this plan was thrown into disarray when the New Democracy government decided to freeze the forest map project with the anti-environmental Law 4685/2020. Today, two years after Mr. Hatzidakis's inspiration to «reform» the forest maps, we still have incomplete posts and, of course, unratified forest maps.

The political leadership of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (YPEN) posted the revised (in name only) forest maps in February 2021, but the posting was followed by a wave of reactions as the posted maps contained a plethora of obvious errors.

Under pressure from citizens, political leaders promised to reform the forest maps, while the maps remained posted with errors, while also proposing new legislative regulations to change the institutional framework (forested fields, deforested areas, presumption of state ownership).

Ultimately, the forestry services proceeded to publish revised forest maps, without, however, having examined all the requests for revision submitted by citizens. This meant, in practical terms, that the maps published today were and still are incomplete.

At the end of March 2022, the government put forward a provision for forested farmland that has many implementation problems, as the form of the land must first be examined by the Forest Registry committees, while the documents proving ownership are particularly vague and have no time limit.

And while on May 26, the Ministry of Environment and Energy officially announced that the deadline for submitting objections to the forest maps would expire on May 31, on the same day, the Minister of Environment and Energy announced to agencies in Crete an extension until June 30, while on May 29, a technical problem arose on the special website for forest maps and the submission of objections to the Greek Land Registry. Finally, on the evening of May 30, the Ministry of Environment and Energy announced a blanket extension for objections until July 15, without, of course, having enacted the necessary legislation. Therefore, the extension, once again under the New Democracy government, is «in words» and will be covered retrospectively with «excellent» legislation.

It is obvious that there is no plan or timetable for the ratification of forest maps, since political leaders are swayed by the pressures they face.

The New Democracy government bears full responsibility for the chaos it has created on the issue of forest maps, as for two years now, it has been acting opportunistically, with endless promises and changes to the institutional framework and constant extensions, which, however, do not solve the basic problems it has created.

Indicative of the hastiness and opportunism is the fact that on May 27, it was announced that the Ministry of Environment and Energy is working on new regulations to simplify and accelerate the accurate recording and ratification of forest maps, and that the issue of the ratification of forest maps has not been resolved.05 it was announced that the Ministry of Environment and Energy is working on new regulations to simplify and speed up the accurate recording and ratification of forest maps, and the issue of managing deforested areas has not yet been resolved, yet another vague promise by the New Democracy party.

Ultimately, the government is pretending to promote a false ratification of forest maps while, in practice, it is planning new changes to the institutional framework that will overturn the classification of ratified forest areas. All this while the ratification of forest maps is a key issue in the institutions' assessment reports and their completion will affect the end of enhanced surveillance.

It is obvious that the New Democracy party is attempting to thwart the ratification of the forest maps. However, the chaos it has created and the legislative cover-up are a blow to the country, the rule of law, and the environment. Ultimately, as with the Land Registry, with New Democracy «we will have forest maps, but it will be as if we don't.».

Socrates Famellos