Dutch royals cause Greek uproar

The issue reached parliament after denunciations and a relevant question SYRIZA concerning illegal earthworks and construction of a jetty for the creation of which public seafront has been ceded.

The villa is in the area of Doroufi, with a total habitable area of 4,000 square meters, and was bought by the Dutch royal couple for 4.5 million euros.

Ten SYRIZA deputies, headed by Nadia Valavani tendered a query mentioning Common Ministerial Decree 924 (14 March 2014) that sanctioned, “against any specific or general” regulation, the placement of a security system and harbor facilities. The Mps also write of intense displeasure from the local community concerning surveillance cameras, work on the beach and posting of sings that forbid local access to the beach. The deputies also refer to press articles that note the emplacement of harbor facilities overnight and occupation of the public beach next to the 5,000 square meter property surrounding the villa of the Dutch royals. The deputies call the ministerial decree that transformed the public beach anti-constitutional since the specific real estate is not an embassy or consulate, and thus foreign soil for which security measures are enforced, but rather a private villa.

The two ministries involved speak of reasons public benefit and civic protection, concerning their joint decree that circumvents any general, or specific regulation. Instead citizen protection minister Vasilis Kikilias notes as much adding that the decree was promulgated on the basis of paragraph 12, article 51, of law 4178/2013, concerning “Dealing with unregulated construction, environmental balance, and other regulations.”

The SYRIZA deputies failed to note that in areas outside town planning zones, a plot of 4,000 square meters allows for a building permit of just 200 square meters.The government and the main opposition have crossed swords in parliament, this time over the villa of the King of the Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander at Kranidi.