In a letter, POMIDA requested that the deadline for clearing plots of land and submitting declarations via the relevant platform, akatharista.gov.gr—which is set to expire on June 15, 2026—be extended at least until June 30, 2026, in a letter from POMIDA to the political leadership of the Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection and the Deputy Minister of the Interior responsible for local authorities, citing the multiple reasons outlined therein, the full text of which is as follows:
TO the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Evangelos Tournas, the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Konstantinos Katsafados, and the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Mr. Vasilis Spanakis
SUBJECT: POMIDA’s request to extend the deadline for clearing and declaring plots of land until June 30, 2026.
Honorable Ministers
As you are aware, our organization, which spearheaded the recent reform of the legislation regarding the annual cleaning of plots into a set of coherent and enforceable rules, from the very beginning advised its members and all property owners to clean their plots in order to minimize the damage from fires that may occur during the coming summer.
However, due to various reasons—such as the difficulty in finding cleaning and debris removal crews, as well as the rainfall that has continued until recently— many citizens have not been able to complete this process, particularly those who own plots of land far from their place of residence,
Because the declarations submitted to date on the relevant platform, akatharista.gov.gr, fall significantly short of those from previous years, which means that a large number of citizens will not be able to complete the clearing of their plots within the current deadline (June 15, 2026),
Because the remaining deadline is completely insufficient and its imminent expiration will discourage citizens from taking any further action or making any further efforts,
Because, ultimately, the common goal is the cleanup of the plots and not the imposition of fines,
We hereby REQUEST, pursuant to your decision under Article 41, paragraph 12 of Law 5281/2026, that the deadline for clearing plots and submitting a declaration on the relevant platform be extended at least until June 30, 2026.