Mayor or opposition? Both, says Haris Doukas

Few Athens mayors person accomplished what Haris Doukas has successful the two years since helium took bureau astatine City Hall successful downtown Kotzia Square – that is, maintaining an astir changeless beingness successful the news, for 1 crushed oregon another. And he’s usually wearing some his hats – that of the capital’s politician but besides arsenic the de facto campaigner for the enactment of the center-left PASOK opposition. 

His interventions tend to beryllium targeted against the New Democracy government, which, successful turn, deliberately stokes the flames of their “feud,” a nationalist confrontation that began with plans to reopen Vassilissis Olgas Avenue and peaked precocious implicit who is liable for keeping the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier successful beforehand of Parliament clean.

His rivals – some successful the authorities and besides within PASOK – view the mayor’s ubiquitousness arsenic a deliberate run to win implicit critics of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and, ultimately, to transition to a relation connected the cardinal governmental stage. Nothing helium says successful this interrogation with Kathimerini, which took spot past Thursday, rules retired such a possibility. 

‘There’s nary question of “appearance” when we’re talking astir parents who person mislaid a kid and are demanding justice. I would ne'er try to dictate however a genitor goes astir trying to get justice’ 

Following the caller play implicit who is liable for sanitation astatine the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, an extracurricular perceiver whitethorn reason that you ne'er walk up a accidental to clash with the government.

An unbiased perceiver would spot that the friction implicit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was started by the government, not me. It was astatine their initiative, and it was their handling of what is simply a non-issue.

Were you OK with the monument’s quality during the play successful question? 

We did our job. We hosed, cleaned and swept the country each evening. In fact, the country was cleaned up and afloat restored σύντομα aft the extremity of the hunger strike [by Panos Rucci, the begetter of 1 of the victims of the 2023 Tempe obstruction tragedy, successful beforehand of Parliament, where the monument is located]. That said, it is my humble sentiment that there’s nary question of “appearance” when we’re talking astir parents who person mislaid a kid and are demanding justice. The contented is not aesthetic. I would ne'er try to dictate however a genitor goes astir trying to get justice.

As a municipal authority, you are working with the caput of the Association of Relatives of Tempe Crash Victims, Maria Karystianou, connected a task for a memorial. Couldn’t this memorial connection some alleviation and defuse the contention implicit the makeshift memorial successful beforehand of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?

Relief will lone travel when justness is served. Until that happens, the wound will stay open, causing symptom to the full country. I cannot forbid anyone from protesting successful request of the truth astir why their kid died. Full stop.

Isn’t being the politician of Athens demanding capable connected its own, without you channeling vigor into the interior workings of PASOK and an “anti-government campaign,” arsenic some critics person accused you of?

I think this disapproval stems from those who want the Athens Municipal Authority to beryllium closed off, timid and subdued – kept successful its corner. But Athens is simply a vibrant metropolis – it has ears, a voice, demands and originative drive. Being the politician of Athens is, indeed, highly demanding, but I think that we person succeeded successful standing up for the nation’s superior and its citizens these past two years. We person brought successful backing from astir the world and forwarded innovative solutions done our planetary partnerships connected large issues such arsenic sustainability and municipality resilience. For my part, I tin lone inquire whether it is “anti-government” to combat the New Building Code to forestall Athens’ further overconstruction and the landfill tax to support residents from facing exorbitant municipal fees, oregon when we pushed backmost astatine zoning authorities so that we could person the basal tools needed for the metropolis to relation properly.

Do you contradict keeping 1 oculus connected the cardinal governmental stage while besides making sure that the radical who elected you from the near of halfway are happy? 

Look, the existent occupation is that they don’t want maine speaking up; they want soundlessness – and that’s not going to happen. I person to reply to the radical who elected maine each time connected specific issues: connected the request for little factual successful their neighborhood, for little municipal tax and for much κοινωνικά argumentation for the greater good. If I wantonness them, I won’t beryllium doing the occupation they supported maine for.

I americium not referring to your organization duties. You ran for the PASOK presidency; could you person promised the radical of Athens that you would beryllium devoted to the responsibilities they elected you for? 

I was frank close from the beginning; I didn’t try to hide. I americium the politician of Athens each time long, but I americium besides a subordinate of PASOK and will proceed to speak and combat for my party.

Sanitation was a large contented successful Athens, peculiarly during the archetypal portion of your term successful office. That wave of discontent seems to person ebbed recently. What was the occupation successful the archetypal place? 

I’m gladsome you admit that there are less problems today. The disapproval was, indeed, rather hostile astatine times – and I can’t assistance but observe that it “coincided” with my run for the PASOK presidency. Sanitation was conscionable the extremity of the spear launched astatine maine from “subsidized” front-page stories and nett trolls. When we took implicit the medication of the city, we recovered mismanagement and neglect successful cardinal areas of municipal operations, peculiarly successful sanitation. At the aforesaid time, however, there was a improvement that caught us disconnected defender and made things adjacent much challenging: Athens saw an detonation successful visitor numbers successful the summertime of 2024 – from 6 million, it jumped to 8 cardinal and this year we’re expecting 10 million. We are, by far, the country’s starring destination. Exactly a year ago, I presented these figures to Interior Minister Theodoros Livanios and requested the hiring of 300 sanitation workers; to his credit, helium helped us marque it happen. We besides doubled the fig of underground waste containers and introduced innovative trash postulation programs, such arsenic the “appointment with the garbage truck” work for commercialized waste. And we’re not stopping there. In immoderate case, we’ve turned the leafage – and that’s intelligibly reflected successful the information that, implicit the past year, cleanliness issues person dropped to 2nd spot connected the Novoville app, where residents study metropolis problems.

What is the top contented now?

The Municipal Police force’s remit and scope.

This suggests that citizens are peculiarly acrophobic astir a widespread consciousness of impunity crossed the city, which is an contented that goes backmost well earlier you came into office. I americium referring chiefly to skyrocketing violations of nationalist space usage and sound levels by cafes, bars and restaurants. 

Yes, the situation is precisely arsenic you picture it. It’s retired of power – which is precisely why we contented shutdowns connected 10 businesses a week.

Is that enough?

No. But I’ll tell you this: I unrecorded successful Gazi, where we closed down each the bars for a week. We carried retired an inspection the different time and everything was neat and tidy. Will it still beryllium similar that successful 15 days? It’s a battle. We’ve tripled fines, made the procedures much stringent and unopen businesses down with the 2nd violation – but we’re abbreviated of hands. I’ve been waiting for 200 caller radical for the Municipal Police for the past year and a half.

Let’s talk astir the arguable determination to reopen Vasilissis Olgas Avenue to traffic. When will this happen? The timeline for the operation work seems to support changing.

The work is 95% complete, according to Anaplasi SA, which is carrying retired the project. They guarantee us that the roadworthy will beryllium acceptable by the extremity of the year so we tin unfastened it to motorists.

In fact, though, the street will lone beryllium partially unfastened to motorists. Cars will besides not beryllium capable to turn onto Amalias toward Syngrou oregon Vasileos Konstantinou to Kallimarmaro. In retrospect, bash you think it’s imaginable that the public’s expectations were raised too precocious implicit the issue?

We are trying to close a determination that indispensable beryllium a planetary first; we are, basically, trying to springiness backmost to everyone a street that has been reserved for the few. And we’re doing so connected the ground of adept data. We carried retired a traffic study, successful existent conditions, utilizing existent information – not during the pandemic, when there were nary cars successful the streets, arsenic was the lawsuit with the erstwhile intervention. I americium acceptable to presume afloat governmental work for turning a “private” street into a nationalist one. And speaking of half-measures, the institution carrying retired the work is doing things by halves. It’s not the metropolis doing the work, it’s Anaplasi SA, the aforesaid institution that took six years to implicit fractional a kilometer of pedestrianization – and astatine an indeterminate cost. To this day, nary 1 knows the nonstop outgo of the Grand Walk [a web of pedestrian streets, including Vasilissis Olgas, created under the erstwhile municipal administration].

Apart from the Double Redevelopment astatine Votanikos with the caller Panathinaikos soccer stadium and the upgrading of the surrounding area, there are nary different large infrastructure oregon rejuvenation projects successful the pipeline. Aren’t you funny successful being associated with something much than Vasilissis Olgas?

What I americium funny successful is doing what needs to beryllium done for Athens and its residents. Take, for example, the six municipal wellness clinics oregon the innovative Energy Poverty Alleviation Office (EPAO), which led to the elimination of municipal fees for energy-vulnerable families and a scope of important benefits aimed astatine reducing vigor costs and improving the vigor ratio of their homes. We tally the Job Center, which helps the unemployed find existent occupation opportunities, and we renovated 80 schools successful a year and a half. The Double Redevelopment task will transform the look of Athens, and overmuch much is connected the way, arsenic large municipality renewal and resilience projects scope maturity. These are the initiatives we prioritize. Our doctrine is not to marque expansive promises of “Grand Walks” that extremity up arsenic “Grand Laughingstocks.”

Work connected the caller Panathinaikos soccer stadium appears to beryllium connected the close track.

When I archetypal visited the ιστοσελίδα close aft being elected, thing had been done, there wasn’t a single bulldozer – but there were 150,000 tons of trash and debris. That’s what I inherited: 150,000 tons of trash. In fact, galore radical said, “Mayor, this task will ne'er spell ahead,” and advised maine to wantonness it so I wouldn’t “end up holding the abbreviated extremity of the stick.” Now Greece arsenic a whole is witness to the advancement being made. No 1 is asking if the task will spell ahead, but when it will beryllium finished – and I won’t remainder until it is.