- What led the Prime Minister to take back the nomination and appoint the Deputy Minister of Defence Nikos Chardalias as the official “New Democracy” candidate in the Region
By Aris Hadjigeorgiou
The 5 billion euro waste management deals recently detailed by Data Journalists, the redevelopments in the Athenian Riviera that will determine the evolution of land values, and a host of other small local projects that act as multipliers of political power, were the “landmines” that Attica’s Regional Governor George Patoulis stepped on while dancing a zeibekiko dance and that led the Prime Minister to withdraw the nomination and appoint the Deputy Minister of Defence Nikos Hardalias as the official “New Democracy” candidate in the Region..
The developments moved like a fire that breaks out with 12 Beaufort, but everything indicates that the flames have been going on for six years since the time when George Patoulis was, among many other roles, the Mayor of Maroussi and the President of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece and started to claim the Municipality of Athens on his own initiative. In 2018, he went so far as to declare that Athens “does not need purple-born saviors” and to deny that he would run for the Attica Region. He eventually ran for the Region and won it, managing since then to balance himself against the strong poles of New Democracy’s power that continued not to look kindly on him. In this balance, the flexibility shown by the outgoing Regional Governor to satisfy the wishes of Maximou Mansion in the implementation of some procurements, at the same time that other projects of much greater value seemed to be on hold, played a role.
Typical projects in this category are those related to waste management, as Data Journalists wrote on June 13, 2023.
ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ: «Έτοιμες» μπίζνες 5 δισ. ευρώ με ιδιώτες για τα σκουπίδια
In that publication we were talking about “dozens of projects related to the management of waste nationwide”, “frozen in the first four-year period 2019-2023 and planned to start next year under different conditions, thus opening “new businesses” that could reach a turnover of 5 billion euros”. Among them, the three major Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects worth a total of €1 billion, two of which have been put out to tender by the Region of Attica (the third in Central Macedonia) but are “stuck” in the Competitive Dialogue process. One of these two PPPs is located in Schisto and concerns the treatment of waste from Piraeus and the coastal municipalities, while for the second, the “Central Sector”, there is not even a clear location.
In the face of the protests of the large construction groups that have expressed interest in these projects, the Mitsotakis government held the Region of Attica, which has put them out to tender, responsible, while George Patoulis made sure to give promises by returning, whenever he was pressed, the ball to Maximou Mansion, which changes the Regional Planning (and therefore the specifications) while even the location of the Waste Treatment Plant of the Central Sector was still pending. The same scene was repeated even for the small plant in Grammatikos which was embroiled in court appeals but was not re-tendered.
In the face of such a pending scenario, as Data Journalists revealed, the government started to bring forward another plan, under which investors would not only participate in the projects through PPPs but would take over the entire treatment cycle by acquiring 49% of the management and management bodies. Local municipalities participate in these management bodies (FODSA), except in Attica, where the Region of Attica has the first say in the EDSNA body. Theoretically, municipalities and regions would have every reason to react to such a prospect of losing responsibility for waste, but the government considers that it is the one that now has the upper hand after Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ victory in the recent elections.
Athenian Riviera-Faliriko Bay
Maximou Mansion blames Patoulis administration for the poor progress of the redevelopment projects in the Faliriko Bay and the Athenian Riviera. The first phase of the project, which started in 2017, was delivered with a huge delay. For the second phase, March 2023 arrived for the Region of Attica and the Ministry of Development to announce that the funding decision was signed for an amount of 365.4 million euros.
The pending projects include the redevelopment and creation of a metropolitan park, landscape and planting landscaping on an area of 536 acres, new building projects of 3,957.30 square meters, underground parking areas of 30,930 square meters, pedestrian bridges, port projects, such as piers, islets, and beach landscaping that complement the entire redevelopment on the seafront. It is clear that such projects in an area that has been neglected for decades will change the balance radically by raising land values more broadly.
Patoulis administration is accused of being inconsistent, having announced many times that the works in Faliriko Bay are progressing. On 11/6/2020, the Region claimed that “it has committed that Phase A of the project will be completed by the end of 2020 and we will do whatever it takes to tender Phase B in the same period”. Almost a year later, on May 14, 2021, George Patoulis stated: “We have secured the funding, and we are proceeding rapidly for the second phase of the redevelopment of the Faliriko Bay. Attica is changing its face”. However, even this commitment was not kept, as on October 8, 2022, we had a new press release, through which it was made known that “The implementation of Phase B and the creation of the metropolitan park is now secured, since on August 26, 2022, the European Commission approved the “Environment and Climate Change” 2021-2027 program, the list of Projects of Strategic Importance of which includes the ecological park in the Falirikos bay, with a completion schedule of December 2025″. In addition to all the above, the government was asking for the creation of a special body for the future management of the park, again accusing Patoulis administration of putting obstacles in the way.
Along with the Faliriko Bay, however, the implementation of another project announced amid a coronavirus pandemic on June 3, 2021, for the general redevelopment of the Athenian Riviera up to Varkiza, is also delayed. The June 2021 event had, in fact, taken place in Glyfada and the event was clearly remembered by those who saw the Prime Minister initially propose the nomination for the Region of Attica to the mayor there, George Papanikolaou. However, after Mr. Papanikolaou appeared for 48 hours as a candidate for Regional Governor, he finally announced that he would remain in the Municipality of Glyfada, leading to the candidacy of the Deputy Minister of Defence Nikos Chardalias. It is recalled that Chardalias has been a long-time figure in local government, elected as Mayor of Vyronas, while in 2014 he was a candidate for deputy regional governor under Yannis Sgouros, who lost to Rena Douros at the time.
The exact content of the Athenian Riviera redevelopment was initially left vague, as the prime minister initially spoke of a bike path that would connect all areas from the Peace and Friendship Stadium to Varkiza. Reports of the project, which was always progressing and never starting, appeared regularly and in 2022 began to involve the TAIPED and the Recovery Fund. Decisions were also announced from time to time by the Region of Attica, ensuring their publicity, as it had made sure, like the government, that it had communication supremacy.
In a discussion on the issue at the Piraeus City Council, there was talk of real estate interests trying to circumvent the current legislation in various ways in order to build a hotel by the sea near the Stadium of Peace and Friendship. According to complaints from the opposition, there was a reference to the Special Urban Plan that the Municipality of Piraeus has begun to draw up, concerning the land around the Karaiskakis stadium and the CHROPEI. The proposal in question was removed from the plan, while Mayor Yannis Moralis stated that he was not aware of the issue at all, making it known that, on 1.4.2022, a ministerial decision was taken by the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy, without consulting the Municipality of Piraeus, to initiate the process of drafting a Special Urban Plan of the Attica Coastal Front for the section Piraeus – Sounion, which will include the area of the Peace and Friendship Stadium.
However, while the large projects and redevelopments were in a state of floundering, the Region was regularly promoting hundreds of small projects (buildings of various uses, road reconstruction, flood protection, etc.) in dozens of small and large municipalities of Attica. These projects, which are in various stages of implementation, are estimated to be worth more than 2 billion euros and Patoulis administration has been severely criticized by the opposition on several occasions for leading the Region into bankruptcy as it does not have the corresponding resources in its coffers.
In Maximou Mansion, many strongly resented these projects as they created dependency relations for G. Patoulis with the New Democracy mayors who are the vast majority in Attica. Several mayors who apparently want to be re-elected were calling for the implementation of the projects to promote them to their voters, but the protests of some of them went as far as the Prime Minister’s Office.
In fact, it seems that the great power that the Regional Governor would acquire, not only through the management of the projects but also through his re-election by a body of 3 million voters, played a central role in taking the final decision to remove the nomination from G. Patoulis. Kyr. Mitsotakis decided to remove the candidate he had supported last May by going to the official debriefing ceremony at the Zappeion. George Patoulis announced, however, that he will support his party’s choice by withdrawing from the candidacy for the Region after an intense backstage battle that unfolded over three days.
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