Yiannis Tsironis

Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill endorsing the concession of a large plot of the former Athens airport at Elliniko to a real estate consortium but the debate preceding the vote exposed divisions within the leftist-led coalition over the privatization project.

The new government sworn in today before the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos. Some swore on the bible and others took a civil oath.

By Evgenia Tzortzi

The decision by the Production Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Ministry to draft a new national plan, put up for consultation last week, is causing worries that a number of scheduled solid waste management projects will not start on time, thus putting at risk their funding by the new European Union-subsidized community support framework.

The prospects for one of Greece?s few privatization projects, the development of the old Athens Airport plot at Elliniko, appeared unclear Wednesday, after Alternate Finance Minister Nadia Valavani said a small portion of the plot would be set aside to create waste management facilities for four municipalities.

There were signs of friction between coalition partners SYRIZA and Independent Greek on Thursday, after three SYRIZA cabinet ministers submitted to Parliament an emergency amendment that could facilitate the process of constructing a mosque in Athens.

Unlicensed settlements created without the required paperwork from the town planning departments are commonplace in Greece and a gordian knot for the state to handle. Urban planning is has been chaotic as unlicensed buildings spurt over the countryside without even a proper unified land registry.

The municipal council in Lagadas, near Thessaloniki, voted on Thursday to force the closure of the northern city?s only garbage dump for two days due to concerns about the environmental impact of the waste center.

Alternate Environment Minister Yiannis Tsironis pledged to call in environmental inspectors at the Mavrorachi dump.