From the Legal Advisor’s Office Ministry of Culturethe full text of decision 761/2024 of the Council of State, which validated the revocation of the concession – on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs– for Association of Greek Archaeologists (SEA), from the Ermou property 134-136, which has been characterized as a “work of art” and is a proclaimed newer monument.
The Court considered the revocation of the concession to be legal, since it was documented in the records that the Ministers of Culture – in 1982 and 1996 – ceded the property exclusively to SEA through actions of its member archaeologists, compatible with the monument. Furthermore, they never granted SEA, directly or indirectly, the right to sell the property to third parties through their own acts. However, SEA ceded the monument, systematically and for a long time, to third parties for their own activities of any nature.
The decision expressly mentions and takes into account the following:
1. The actions of third parties inside the monument, which the (then) President of the SEA with his letter 120/4.8.2023 (indicative: annual celebrations of Alsace, Mexico, various bazaars, school events, book sales, etc.),
2. The actions of third parties within the monument, which were investigated by the National Transparency Authority and/or proven by the evidence in the process (indicative and for a fee: Sale of yoga products, party of photojournalists from Greece, cutting of cake by the inhabitants of Kastaniana, party of the Icariots, meeting of the Accountants’ Union, etc.),
3. The written statement of 4.8.2023 by the (then) President of the SEA to the Minister of Culture that the event of 18.7.2023 regarding the sinking of the Pylos was an event of third parties, and that the SEA had agreed that the third party organizers, the musicians and even the visitors of the event, would be responsible for the safekeeping and arrangement of the monument,
4. The subsequent illegal concession of the monument by SEA to third parties, even after the withdrawal of the concession by the Administration. The decision indicates that SEA, after the revoked decision, made the monument available to a group calling itself “Assembleia 8 de Março”, which organized a feminism party,
5. The written invitation of 11 August 2024 from the Minister of Culture to SEA to submit, if it wishes, a request for the granting of a property as its headquarters and Document No. 153/15 September 2023 from the (then) President of SEA, in which he declared to the Minister that SEA wanted a property, not for its headquarters, but only for temporary housing and mainly for the period determined until the Supreme Court’s decision. (SEA acknowledges this choice in the Announcement of 31 October 2023). It should be noted that the Ministry assigned SEA the property at Rua Panos 19, where SEA placed its archive and library, committing in writing to return them to the Ministry exactly on the third calendar day after the Supreme Court’s ruling, without any disturbance or other procedure. However, SEA even violated this temporary concession, as SC decision 761/2024 was published on 29.5.2024, but SEA has not handed over the property at Rua Panos, 19, to this day.
Finally, with regard to trade union rights, which SEA invoked, the Court concluded that the basic condition that the law requires for a trade union to be considered a trade union organization, namely its registration in the country’s Trade Union Organizations Books, does not even exist. It should be noted that SEA never denied the fact that it was not registered in the books in question, but stated that it considers this finding of the Court “insignificant” (Press Release of 31.5.2024).
Following the above, the Supreme Court of Cassation concluded that SEA can freely carry out activities, in accordance with its statutory purposes, but not within the Ermou 134-136 monument, the concession of which it has systematically violated”.
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Diligence:George Koulouvaris
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