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The idea of the Minister of State Haris Pamboukis of establishing an Athenian "Central Park" was left without funding since oil dollars from Qatar will not flow to the vast space where the old airport in the suburb of Elliniko was. According to an article in the Eleftherotypia newspaper, the Executive Director of the Qatar Investment Authority Ahmad Al Saeed informed the Minister ten days ago that he withdrew his interest in the investment in Elliniko. The new blow against the government of George Papandreou comes seven months after the first fiasco with the cancellation of the investment in Astakos where a Qatari company would build a final terminal for liquefied natural gas.

According to the article’s author, the issues concerning the investment in the vast area in Elliniko started in late 2010. The text points out three main reasons for the withdrawal of the businessmen from Qatar.

The first reason stated is the backroom pressure of Germany on the European Union to "prevent" Athens from signing a contract with the Qatar Investment Authority. The main argument of Berlin was that the direct assignment of the investment of the businessmen from Qatar would be contrary to the European law. According to Germany, an international tender should be announced, because some "European companies" were also interested to take part.

The paper puts second the signals from Brussels to Athens for the role of the Spanish architect Jose Eusebio who was assigned to implement the project without a competition. In an attempt to avoid this obstacle the Greek government stated to the European Union that "Eusebio is a personal friend of the Greek Prime Minister and he would make the project free of charge." But after the approval of the privatisation program worth $ 50 billion by the government committee "interested competitors" in the European Union, including a Spanish and a Dutch company, discovered that one of the advisors was the company Barcelona Strategic Urban Systems (BSUS).

One of its owners is the Spanish architect. The paper points out that the "European competitors" made it clear that the presented as a friend of the Prime Minister Jose Eusebio did not really work without pay and tried to disseminate this information through various channels in Brussels.

The third reason lies in the differences between the two countries' conditions of mutual exploitation, which they could not overcome. The first "black clouds" appeared when Doha was informed that only half of the 5300 acres in Ellinika avail "clear" evidence of ownership. This fact put the investment to risk due to fears of legal complications. Furthermore, according to the Greek government, the requirements of the Qatari investors were "excessive" and would cause reaction by the local government and in view of the advertised "green" development model of the investment. The investors from Qatar Investment Authority required for exploitation 70% of the total area, which, in fact, negated the government’s dream to make a Central Park in the heart of Athens.

The investment plans have failed because of those reasons and the Greek government tried to "cover" the events during the past period. According to the publication in Eleftherotypia, the Qatari businessmen are "furious" about the attitude of the Greek side blaming it for a lack of professionalism and specific business plan. "The Qatari left cursing," says the source of the newspaper. The Minister of State Haris Pambuokis has started to inform the specific banking institutions about what happened and to seek new investment groups in Europe and Asia.

Elfterotipiya sources claim that the intervention of the European Union, behind which lies the German Government, is an act within a "new economic agreement in Yalta." They determine in his way the willingness of Germany to have the first word on the utilization of the Greek state property.

The newspaper points out that the Prime Minister George Papandreou has prompted the international investors in his speech in New York last September. In it, he assessed the state's assets of Greece to 270 billion euros - an amount that would cover the foreign debt to a large extent. Two days later, the Greek government signed in New York a memorandum of economic cooperation with Qatar, which provided that Qatar Investment Authority would invest $ 5 billion in the project of Elliniko.

The newspaper comments that the message of Berlin is very indicative of the development program for state assets utilization. "The Germans want to have the leading opinion about what Greece will provide and for its price," says the source of the newspaper and states that the country is divided into three zones of "high interest": energy, real estate, coastal areas and islands. "The area in Ellinika could not be separated from the general plan for the utilization of the state property by European companies," says the source of Eleftherotypia.