The notification of the Local Plan of Akamas before the end of the term of the government of Nikos Anastasiadis alongside the announcement of compensatory measures for those whose properties may be negatively affected by it, decided today the Council of Ministers, which thoroughly discussed the issue of the Local Plan.
This was announced in their statements after the Ministerial session by the Minister of the Interior, Nikos Nouris, and the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Kostas Kadis, who were authorized to discuss the issues that need further clarification.
Mr. Nouris said that “the Council of Ministers concluded today that it is imperative that the Local Plan be announced before the end of the term of the Government. But at the same time we have identified a number of issues, which need further clarification and which the two Ministers have been authorized to discuss among themselves, above all the issues of the compensatory benefits of all those whose properties may be negatively affected by the publication of the Local Plan” .
He added that the study of the President of the Republic himself, but also of the Council of Ministers to have this discussion at this particular moment in time and the clarification lies in the fact that “we want to avoid legal obstacles”, noting that “if at all way we were announcing today the publication of a Local Plan and subsequently announcing compensatory measures, legal issues could arise”.
“Therefore it will still take some time to study and clarify these issues before reaching the our final decision,” he added.
For his part, Mr. Kadis said that any arrangements made should be harmonized with the binding conditions set by the environmental authority and be compatible with the European acquis. The Council of Ministers authorized us to look at the issue of compensatory measures as well.
“Along with the announcement of the Local Plan, a framework will be announced with the basic guidelines in which the provision of compensatory measures will move where it is decided appropriate to provide and implement such measures,” he said.
Asked if there will be a discussion to bring together the positions of the two Ministers and if there will be changes to the Local Plan, Mr. Kadis said that there is good cooperation between the two Ministers and the two Ministries.
“There may be different points of view on some issues, but there are no conflicts as was implied in the past. “There is good cooperation and in the context of this cooperation we will see regulations in the Local Plan which are in harmony with the decisions and with the opinion of the Department of Environment and we will also see the issue of compensatory measures. We will move in these two directions”, he pointed out.
Mr. Kadis said that in the Council of Ministers there was an exhaustive discussion of the aspects of the Local Plan and the different approaches from state agencies. We are obliged to act within the framework imposed by both European and national legislation. I think this has become clear. The position of the President and the Council of Ministers as a whole was also clear that we should not leave problems for the next government. The two Ministries have worked very hard in the last five years. We have reached a critical stage and we believe that this issue that concerns society and especially the local community of Akamas should be closed and this pending issue that has existed for more than 35 years should also be closed.”
Asked if we will see variations for the developments provided for in the plan, Mr. Kadis noted that we will see adjustments.
Mr. Nouris, for his part, said that he is not going to hide the diversity of approaches. He added that there are different approaches regarding the Urban Planning Council and the environmental authority, and within the framework of the few days' effort that will be made now and on the issue of compensations “where and where it is allowed, within the framework of the binding environmental opinion, efforts will be made to exhaust some discretionary freedoms with minor or major adjustments that can be made”.
He added that there are some issues that the Minister of Agriculture has accepted that could always be discussed under this lens. “Therefore, within this margin, the maximum possible effort will be made to have what we consider to be the presumptively best solution”, he said.
When asked when the final announcements will be made, Mr. Nouris said that this it will be done in one of the next sessions of the Council of Ministers, before the end of the term of the government.
