Closing construction loopholes

The Environment Ministry on Thursday announced that within two years it will have abolished all exceptions to the rules on structures outside of town planning, which will only be allowed on plots in excess of 4,000 square meters.

In the same context the issue of new construction permits for tourism facilities in areas outside of town planning on Mykonos and Santorini will be suspended until the town planning for the entire island in each case has been completed. The aim of that move is to complete planning on those "saturated islands," as Minister Kostis Hatzidakis stated.

Construction outside of town planning has a history of almost a century in Greece, dating back to 1923. Since then legislators have steadily expanded it with more and more loopholes, resulting in the uncontrolled spread of buildings in the countryside.

The Council of State, the country's...