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Until recently, SYRIZA’s government had only blocked the recovery of the territory of the former Athens airport in Elliniko by company Lamda Development that won the public tender during the term of the previous cabinet. Yesterday, however, Deputy Minister of Finance Nadia Valavani undertook concrete actions by saying that it was absolutely necessary to use 12 acres of the coastal area for a dumping ground.

According to Kathimerini newspaper, she made the specific statement after a conversation with deputy district governor Christos Kapantais who informed her that the surrounding municipalities of Elliniko, Ergiroupouli, Alimos and Glyfada had made that request. "We will immediately contact the relevant ministries and company Elliniko to launch the procedures for the giving over of the specific area," said Valavani.

Her words surprised even the members of the Privatization Fund. It turns out that they had not been warned about the specific decision. The same is true for the factors in the Greek market, some of which had said that such an act would be perceived as unilateral.

The probability of taking away 12 acres from the investment company and placing them under state control again will be the first step towards the abolition of the agreement signed last autumn between the Greek state and the company Lamda Development.

According to the same representatives in the market, the responsiveness and the express reaction on the part of the Deputy Minister are significant in view of the fact that the plan proposed by the four municipalities will not be implemented so soon.

The Ministry of Environment was not late in responding either. Deputy Minister Yiannis Tsironis said that the decision of his colleague Nadia Valavani was in line with the new National Waste Management Plan.

On the other hand, Elliniko's Mayor Yiannis Konstantatos determined her statements as "unsuccessful" and wondered what would happen to the remaining area of ​​the former airport.

In all cases, it is not yet clear whether it is legally possible to take away the 12 acres in question from the whole area, as the tender has provided it to Lamda Development in its entirety.

GRReporter recalls that immediately after the elections on 25 January, Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis stated in parliament he would review "the controversial sale of the former Elliniko airport." Lamda Development won the tender with a bid amounting to 915 million euro and according to its plans, the total investment would be 7 billion euro.

The news that the most expensive land in the Attica region could become a place for waste processing rather than a modern park has provoked wild responses on the social networks and political commentator Kostis Lympouridis wrote bitingly, "Comrades, make a morgue for ships in Santorini, a biological wastewater treatment plant on Delos and a dumping ground in Meteora."