Representatives of ecclesiastical circles express astonishment at the government position in connection with the statement of Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos that he is ready to provide church property to be utilized for the benefit of the people and the country.
And because, as they say, the letter sent by Alexis Tsipras to the Archbishop "takes a step back rather than a step forward." In particular, as they point out for the newspaper Kathimerini, the Greek Prime Minister has again referred the matter of church property utilization to the commission to examine and address Greek church issues rather than to the Church Property Utilization Company that was established long ago. The company in which the Archbishopric of Athens and the Greek state hold a share of 50% each manages the high value property of the Archbishopric, which the church will provide for long term rental. I.e. properties such as the 83 acres in Vouliagmeni that border the hotel complex Asteras or the 1,200 acres in Faskomilia that stretch along the coast from Vouliagmeni to Varkiza.
The properties in question as well as other attractive plots are blocked as the state has not issued the necessary regulations, despite the court’s decision in favour of the church and the recognition of its ownership. To overcome these obstacles, in 2009 the Archbishop addressed a proposal to Prime Minister of the time George Papandreou but finally Antonis Samaras took action on the matter, establishing the aforementioned company by Law 4182 that was adopted in September 2013. It provides for transferring 50% of company revenue to the state and allocating the remaining 50% to support the socially useful activities of the Archbishopric.
Let us recall that a law passed in the spring of 2013 (4146/2013) allowed the legal entities of the Greek church to use its real estate through the investment legislation for private property, namely through special projects for territorial development of strategic investments that enter into force by a presidential decree. The Church Property Utilization Company was established and for several months, it had a management board that included representatives of the Ministries of Finance and of Education and Religious Affairs. However, the political events, and the early elections in particular, did not allow the company to begin to operate and, in the first place, to hold an international competition for the appointment of a consultant - a role that had attracted the interest, on a voluntary basis at that, of the US company Cushman & Wakefield, which is one of the largest international real estate companies. However, political support is required in order for the procedure to continue and for the company to actually start operating.
"The message from the TV interview of the Archbishop, in which he said that the church property could be utilized by the church and the state, was also addressed to the Prime Minister, and its goal was not to waste the progress achieved so far", noted the representatives of ecclesiastical circles. "With his letter, however, the Prime Minister seems to take a step back on the issue of church property utilization, which could significantly help the struggling Greek society and the state in general in these difficult days."
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the same representatives of the ecclesiastical circles recall that three years have passed without a decision having been taken on the Archbishop’s proposal to the state to provide agricultural land owned by the church to young farmers free of charge. At the same time, they emphasize that "for a long time the Archbishop has been asking what has really happened to those 750,000 acres granted by the church to the state in 1952 and distributed in the 1970s. To which indigent citizens and farmers were these properties distributed? Or did they eventually sink into the black hole of the state?" The sources of the Archbishopric state that, in every case, the Archbishop hopes for the support of the government and personally of the Prime Minister in connection with church property utilization, as such cooperation could actually be in favour of the Greek people and especially of the most vulnerable groups of the population.
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