According to an announcement by the Piraeus Bar Association, the appellants are seeking the annulment of Presidential Decree /2023, which approved the “Strategic Environmental Impact Study” (SEIS), the “Development Program,” and the “Master Plan” of the port of Piraeus, as well as the Decision Approving Environmental Terms of /2023, which concern, among other things, the protection of the cultural heritage of Piraeus. It is noted that for these issues, the necessary coastal engineering studies are lacking, and the special breakwater for the protection of the coastal Monuments has not even been constructed.
“The Piraeus Bar Association, aiming to protect the health of citizens, the environment, and the cultural heritage of the city, has repeatedly highlighted since 2019, through decisions of its Administrative Board, the real and legal problems associated with the ‘pharaonic’ project planned by OLP SA – COSCO, which is intended to be carried out by reclaiming 135 stremmas of sea area at the entrance of the harbor in front of the Piraeus Peninsula,” it is noted in the announcement.
It further notes that these problems are connected, primarily, with the increase in air pollutants and other waste, and the further traffic burden on the already strained Piraeus, as well as with the methodology for processing hazardous dredged sediments and the inadequate protection of cultural heritage and, specifically, the existing archaeological sites within the “Land Port Zone” (“Koneio Wall”, “Tomb Monument of Themistocles”).
During the hearing of the annulment petitions, the Piraeus Bar Association, through its legal representatives Ev. Anagnostou, I. Vrellos, and I. Kardaras, as well as the other appellants, highlighted the legal problems arising from the contested acts, and the Council of State is now called upon to judge whether these administrative acts are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, national and EU law, and also the International Conventions for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment, for a sustainable development of the city and its inhabitants.
