Greece: EU Task Force and special steering committee for spatial planning reform

The chapter begins with an international comparison of the crisis-affected countries, which provides a framework in which the Greek case will then be examined. An effort has been made to structure the rest of the chapter, which from then onwards focuses on Greece, along two dimensions. On one hand, the chronological sequence of the discussions of the Spatial and Urban Planning Committee (SUPC) constituted in Greece in 2013 to produce a planning bill, which would accommodate the demands of the Troika of creditors. These discussions are presented, with the help of the author’s personal records, in order to shed light on the fluctuations of opinion, the official ever-changing attitudes, and the dynamics of verbal exchanges. On the other hand, short remarks have been interpolated and highlighted to help the reader understand at a glimpse the themes being discussed. The state of the discussion at each point in time is briefly summarized. The work of SUPC was naturally a follow-up of that of a previous working group, as presented in chapter 6. An important difference was, that at the request of the Troika, the membership of SUPC included high-ranking officials not just from the Ministry of the Environment, but also economic development and sectoral ministries, as well as independent experts. The presentation of the proceedings of SUPC follows initially the chronological sequence of the committee’s meetings, but then turns to a thematic classification. Everywhere, the intention is to bring to the surface the antitheses and clashes between sectoral interests represented in the committee, and, thus, focus on the forces that shape the ‘institutional design’ of a new planning law. The product of this design was the short-lived Law 4269/2014. The chapter includes sections on the overall assessment of the law, both favourable and critical. Short summaries are placed at the end of all sections to assist the reader.