WRITTEN QUESTION E-0029/99

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(20 January 1999)

Subject: Human rights of householders without planning permission

There are some 800 000 buildings without planning permission in Greece, and over two million persons (including their families) occupy such buildings.

These illegal householders have received repeated assurances from the Greek authorities that the problem of legalizing their buildings will be settled and that they will be integrated in town planning schemes; however, nothing has so far been done. The laws and presidential decrees issued since 1977 (the most recent was Presidential Decree 267 of 1998) are concerned purely with raising revenue and impose swingeing fines on illegal householders, even though no progress has been made to connect their dwellings to the water supply, sewage and electricity systems, services which are provided as a matter of course in any other country. This situation represents a violation of even the most basic human rights and reduces one fifth of the inhabitants of Greece to the status of second-class citizens.

Will the Commission say whether it is aware of the plight of householders without planning permission in Greece and what measures it intends to take to provide relief for the two million and more Greeks who lack the most basic public utilities such as water, light and sewage disposal?

Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission

(12 February 1999)

The Commission has no jurisdiction to deal with the question asked, which is a matter solely for the national authorities concerned.