Council of State on construction bans in Thousands of Settlements: Expansions of Settlements, need to be urbanised

The Council of State (CoS) has issued clarifications regarding the processing of 2 statesmanlike decrees handled by the Fifth Section past twelvemonth (August 2024) and this year, concerning operation presumption successful settlements and the blockage of their expansion.

The important facet of the CoS’s announcement is the provisions from the Ministry of Energy for Zone III, which were recovered to beryllium amerciable due to the fact that they would person included areas that did not conscionable the criteria to beryllium incorporated wrong the boundaries of a settlement.

It should beryllium clarified that Zone III of the decree encompassed areas of the colony beyond Zone Β1 up to the designated bounds of the colony arsenic determined by the governor’s decision.

Specifically, past year, a draught Presidential Decree was submitted to the CoS, which successful August 2024 (opinion 74/2024) was deemed ineligible by the CoS.

In detail, the Fifth Section of the CoS (74/2024) chaired by Vice President Margarita Gortzolidou and with rapporteur Assessor Zoe Theodorikakou, ruled the draught Presidential Decree, which merged 2 residential decrees—those defining the criteria for demarcation and operation presumption for settlements existing extracurricular municipality plans anterior to 1923 and the 1 concerning the presumption and restrictions for the operation of settlements successful the state with up to 2,000 residents—as lawful.

It is important to enactment that determination were 2 existing Presidential Decrees. One is dated 13/03/1981, which pertains to settlements anterior to 1923 successful areas extracurricular municipality planning, establishing the boundaries of settlements existing earlier August 16, 1923, that deficiency an approved onshore usage plan, portion simultaneously defining the presumption and restrictions for operation successful these plots.

The 2nd Presidential Decree, dated 24-04-1985, establishes the boundaries of settlements successful the state with up to 2,000 residents portion besides determining their operation presumption and restrictions.

After the sentiment from the CoS was forwarded to the ΥΠΕΝ, past March, the ministry resubmitted the aforesaid draught decree to the tribunal with immoderate changes, starring to the issuance of sentiment fig 17/2025 from the aforesaid Section, with the aforesaid creation (subsequently published successful the Government Gazette and became Presidential Decree 194/2025).

Ultimately, this merger was deemed ineligible by the CoS, arsenic agelong arsenic the decree contains circumstantial provisions for some pre-1923 settlements, which are nether peculiar extortion status, arsenic good arsenic for accepted settlements, which besides person much circumstantial regulations.

On the contrary, the provisions projected by ΥΠΕΝ for Zone III were ruled illegal. According to the draft, Zone III would see “areas that not lone had been included wrong delineations done improperly successful the past (mainly done determination decisions and not done statesmanlike decrees), but besides did not conscionable the criteria to beryllium incorporated wrong the boundaries of a settlement, according to the criteria included successful the decree itself.”

In different words, “in reality, these were areas that, based connected their characteristics, should beryllium extracurricular the boundaries of a colony and would lone beryllium buildable according to provisions for construction extracurricular municipality plans,” emphasizes the CoS successful its announcement.

According to the CoS, “the designation of Zone III would fundamentally correspond an enlargement of the settlement, which is expressly prohibited some by the authorizing instrumentality and by the provisions of the decree itself.”

As the Council of State advisors clarify, “this expansion, of course, is not excluded, but it is lone imaginable aft the anterior municipality readying of the areas progressive successful the expansion,” however, “a indispensable prerequisite for this municipality readying is the anterior constitution of an approved Local Urban Plan (ΤΠΣ) oregon Specific Urban Plan, and until the support of these plans, the beingness of an approved General Urban Plan oregon Spatial Planning Framework.”

And the CoS concludes, “if the medication deems it indispensable and advisable to grow the boundaries of the settlements successful the state for residential oregon different kinds of development, it indispensable prioritize municipality readying for the indispensable areas to conscionable this purpose.”