Private interests try to delay for one more time the operation of the cremation center in Elaionas, West Athens, and a number of businesses appealed to Greece’s supreme court Council of State claiming it is against the constitution.
According to daily efsyn, several big businesses and one bank appealed to the Council of State asking to cancel the relevant decision of the Municipality Council of Athens from 9. Nov 2017, which gave permission toe the location of the cremation center. The businesses and the bank are situated near the location in an area known as “block 17.”
The claimants request the Supreme Court of Cassation to annul that decision as “unconstitutional and unlawful,” stating first of all that the cremation facility near their businesses is harmful to human health.
At the same time, they argue that the legal framework for the construction of an incineration plant contravenes Article 24 of the Constitution that protects the natural, man-made urban environment.
The location of a Center for Incineration in Eleonas “was not within the permitted uses of the area, since block 17 is designated as a communal green area, illegally declassified and converted into a building site suitable for the building of the cremation facility.”
They also argue, that the decision is additionally “unconstitutional”, as it aggravates the environment of the region and the quality of life and living conditions of the inhabitants.
In addition, no alternatives were considered, and the whole center is aimed at serving private interests.
In a article from 10. Nov 2017, the same daily reported that the from an Athens City Council meeting that two out of the eight businesses appealing the decisions have been checked by the regional government and had not received the relevant permission yet. “These are appeals are grotesque,” one of the deputy mayors of the Athens City Council said when the lawyer of the 8 announced the businesses would appeal the decision to the Council of State.
Among the other arguments, the lawyer had even use the proximity of the Mosque under construction, saying characteristically that “the Muslim religion forbids this.”
Another argument was that the Cremation Center affects the business owners’ interests as it “degrades their rel estates.”
The operation of cremation centers in Greece has been a difficult task from the very beginning due to objections by the Greek Church, the Municipalities and now the private interests.
Suddenly business people are concerned for the ‘green environment’,thats a first ever,what tosh.And concerned for the muslims.My sister has a crematory almost on her door step in Sussex,UK,its been there for donkeys years,thats the way it is,get on and take what is necessary,put some lovely tall green trees around their business and do as they are told,stop gripping all the time.