The new bill by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy titled “Renaming of the Regulatory Authority of Energy to Waste, Energy and Water Regulatory Authority and broadening its scope with responsibilities for water services and urban waste management, strengthening of water policy – Modernization of the legislation on the use and production of electricity from renewable energy sources through the transposition of the EU Directives 2018/2001 and 2019/944 – Special Provisions for renewable energy sources and the protection of the environment” has been submitted to vote by the Hellenic Parliament, raising questions for the limited time provided for public consultation.
Among other, the bill contains several provisions on environmental protection, on which The Green Tank submitted comments and recommendations both in the public consultation and in the public hearing. Ioli Christopoulou, policy director of The Green Tank, commented on the provisions of the new law specifically on protected areas in ERT’s special show on the environment and the journalist Katerina Christofilidou.
In her remarks she highlighted The Green Tank’s proposal for a radical revision of the way protected areas are designed, putting forward strong definitions so that permitted uses and activities are selected based on the characteristics of each area rather than a list of predefined uses. This will eliminate the ambiguities and distortions of the existing regulations, which the new law retains and are the cause of the country’s long delays in meeting its European obligations.
Among the positive aspects of the law, she highlighted the fact that the country is for the first time acquiring legally binding targets for the protection and restoration of nature, putting 30% of its land and sea areas under protection by 2030.
The special show was broadcasted live on ΕΡΤ1 / ErtNews, on March 14, 2023, and it is available on ERTFLIX.
You may listen to Ioli Christopoulou’s comments here (in Greek):
