Residents lodge fresh legal appeal against Elliniko project
In the latest hiccup in government efforts to push through a long-delayed investment at the site of the old Athens airport in Elliniko, south of the capital, a group of residents have launched a legal challenge against the project.
A couple of months after the Council of State deemed that the investment is legal and in line with Greece's Constitution, a group of 507 residents and conservationists launched a new legal suit against it.
In view of the fresh legal challenge, the country's highest administrative court will have to weigh the case again, postponing yet again the launch of the investment.
In February, the Council of State deemed the planned investment at the site legal and constitutional in a 111-page judgement, thus giving the green light for the project to proceed.
The investment was one of a set of so-called prior actions pledged by Greece to international creditors as part of the third review of its third bailout and is expected to create thousands of new jobs in Attica once Lamda Development, the Greek-Arab-Chinese consortium that has undertaken the project, is allowed to proceed with construction.
Last year objections by the Central Archaeological Council (KAS) had slowed down the project while there have been several legal objections by residents and environmental groups.
