Commission to Greece: Lack of nat’l cadastre an impediment to further investment

The EU Commission essentially directed a recommendation-cum-ultimatum to the Greek state this past week to finally complete a national cadastre (land registry) in the country, using the phrase “long-standing project” in an elusive effort now spanning decades and layers of bureaucratic ineptitude.

The recommendation was included in the 2023 National Reform Programme of Greece and the related Council opinion on the latter, which was unveiled on Wednesday, along with similar reports on all other EU Countries.

According to the Council, “… completion of the national cadastre – a long-standing project – will further improve Greece’s business climate. By the end of May 2023, 71% of cadastral mapping had been completed, and another 25% of property rights had been collected and are currently being processed. The processing of the collected rights is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, which would complete the cadastre by the end of the year. On the transition to the new agency ‘Hellenic Cadastre’, 12 cadastral offices and 49 branches have opened and are operational. The Hellenic Cadastre plans to fully digitalise the services to citizens and the Recovery and Resilience Facility provides support for the digitalisation of all registrations and deeds of property rights that are currently in paper form.”

The Commission calls on Greek authorities to “…finalise cadastre reform by completing cadastral mapping and the establishment and operation of the Hellenic Cadastre Agency.”