Property protection, housing policy, and climate change are at the core of New Democracy’s proposals for revising articles 17, 21, and 24 of the Greek Constitution, which were discussed on Thursday (18/06) in the Constitutional Revision Committee.
Constitutional reform: New Democracy’s proposals on housing, climate change, and property rights
Specifically, New Democracy proposes the revision of Article 17 (Protection of property and expropriation) with the following objectives:
– The protection of not only ownership but of property as a whole, given that property is a broader concept that encompasses not just real estate but also financial claims and other rights that hold monetary value.
– The introduction of a mandatory compensation obligation for restrictions on property use without expropriation. The proposal seeks to address thousands of cases in which the state, in pursuit of a public interest objective, may not formally seize a property but instead imposes significant restrictions, leaving many owners unable to make use of what they own.
– The ability to transfer building coefficients (dynamic urban planning) and the repurposing of abandoned buildings for social use — a proposal that falls within the broader housing policy framework.
New Democracy also proposes the revision of Article 21 (Protection of family, marriage, motherhood and childhood, and rights of persons with disabilities), with the aim of:
– Establishing an explicit constitutional obligation for the state to ensure access to affordable housing.
– Introducing an explicit requirement that intergenerational justice and solidarity be taken into account when designing public policies.
The revision of Article 24 (Environmental protection) aims to achieve:
The adoption of measures to address climate change, the effective management of water resources, the promotion of renewable energy sources, the safeguarding of environmental balance in all state interventions, and the protection of animals.
