Save Kolymbithres

Save Kolymbithres is a group of persons dedicated to the preservation of Kolymbithres‘  heritage in all its aspects: Landscape, flora and fauna, history, and more.

To this end, we work with all means available to us to stop the large hotel development project by the company EKTER at the west side of the hills of Kolymbithres.

This project is in the planning stage and various bodies have already given their approval even if, as we are convinced, that approval will be very detrimental for the entire bay.

Therefore, in June 2022, our group has filed an appeal process at the Greek Council of State against the positive decision of the ministry of antiquities. We are of the opinion, that this positive decision is not warranted by the facts on the ground.

In August 2022, we wrote a detailed rebuttal against another decision and organized an online petition which gathered more than 2.500 signatures. Then we submitted rebuttal and petition to the relevant bodies 

>> The rebuttal you find here 

If and when further positive and questionable decisions should be made by any relevant body, we will file more appeals as appropriate.

Update Winter 2022/23

  1. Though we have a very good chance to win, as of now no significant progress has taken place since the summer in relation to our appeal. We are in contact with the lawyer who follows the case. The date of discussion of the appeal in the Council of State has not been determined yet.

  2. Also, till now there is no progress in the procedure of approval of the SEIA study (Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment) by the Ministry. The relevant Directorate is waiting to receive the feedback by several Authorities, which had been asked for their opinion.

  3. One of these Authorities is the Regional Council of South Aegean. We were informed the last moment that the issue would be discussed in the Council on October 31st and under strong time pressure we sent our arguments to all members of the Council. Unfortunately, the Council approved the SEIA. We were informed that political pressure had been exercised on the members of the majority to approve the SEIA and the project.

  4. Two remarks on the above:
    a) This approval does not have an important impact on the final decision. Even if it were negative, it might not affect the result, as it is a non-binding opinion.
    b) The member of the majority in the Council Costas Bizas from Paros voted against the project. Note that Costas Bizas will be a candidate as a Mayor in the Municipal Elections of 2023.

  5. The Municipality of Paros was also asked for an opinion on the SEIA study of the project. The Mayor did not even bring the issue for a discussion in the Municipal Council, claiming that it had approved the project in an earlier session. He was told that this is a different thing, as they had to express their opinion on the SEIA study and not the project itself, but this didn’t make a difference.

  6. We did not expect a different attitude by the local Authorities, as they are under political pressure to approve it. Our hopes lie on the Council of State, which repeatedly rejects similar developments on the ground of lack of bearing capacity studies that it considers as a prerequisite for accepting such projects. Important examples: In April 2022 the Council of State rejected even the extension of town planning borderlines of Paros settlements as it was not supported by bearing capacity studies. And the same happened with a big hotel in Mykonos.

  7. Overall, our plan should not change and we have a very good chance to win. What we have to do is to follow closely the case and whenever the SEIA is finally approved by the Ministry to appeal again to the Council of State, this time against that approval. Our group will again have to pay money, but this is the only way to stop it.