Greece: an avalanche of environmental losses

To a large extent, the environmental rollback analysed in the review is the result of Greece’s commitments in the context of the austerity and structural adjustment programme supervised by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. To an equally large extent though, this loss of important environmental acquis is due to initiatives of the political leaders of various ministries. It is indicative that policies introduced by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change upon its establishment in 2009, were cancelled, betraying hopes for good environmental policy-making. 

According to the data presented in the review, the economic crisis is used as an excuse for the weakening of environmental legislation and policy. The policies and legal changes stipulated in the structural adjustment and austerity programme (hereinafter referred to as the “Memorandum”) as national commitments being the tips of the spear, many ministries have launched efforts to penetrate and alter the environmental legislation affecting their policy domains.

The environmental policy domains that were mostly affected are the following:

• legislation on environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental permitting,
• forest legislation,
• legislation on building and constructions. 

Source: WWF Greece’s 2012 report on the status of environmental legislation in Greece (Summary in English).