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Greece welcomes the summer with 34 Blue Flags less. This year they will be flown over 387 beaches and 9 marinas and yet the country continues to be ranked second among 41 countries, following Spain in the list of the cleanest coastlines.

According to representatives of the Greek Association for Nature Conservation, which is responsible for implementing the program in the country, the Greek committee rejected 11 beaches because of the lack of excellent quality of sea water and another 11 because of poor organization and insufficient number of tests. The International Commission for the Blue Flags took them from 12 more beaches, also because of insufficient tests. Globally, 3012 coasts and 638 minor ports were awarded.

The coastline in Lasiti on the island of Crete, the Dodecanese and Corfu were awarded the highest number of Blue Flags in Greece - 40, 37 and 33 Blue Flags, respectively. The Chalkidiki peninsula this year "lost" 10 Blue Flags. They will be flown on 30 of the beaches there. The full list of all blue beaches in Greece is available here.

Meanwhile, a Wikileaks message revealed that Greek politicians have insisted on reducing the criteria for awarding Blue Flags aiming the country to obtain as many flags as possible. The confidential document 08Athens1411 from October 2008 describes the conversation between the U.S. ambassador to Athens at that time Daniel Spekhart and representatives of the Greek environmental organizations.

During lunch, the President of the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association HELMEPA Dimitris Mitsatsos said that the Greek politicians, “who often have personal interests in tourism, exert pressure on different NGOs to reduce the number of ecological criteria for the coasts and small yacht ports.” The message states that the second place for Greece among the 40 countries is due to the reduced criteria for the acquisition of the blue flag.

According to the Greek association for the protection of nature, the reason for the reduced number of “blue” beaches in Greece this year lies in the fact that fewer applications were received due to the mergers of municipalities under the Kalikratis program.