Haris Doukas and the Deputy Mayor of Municipal Police and Public Spaces, Thomas Georgiadis, had a meeting today at the town hall with the President of GSEVEE, Giorgos Kavvathas, and the President of EEA, Yannis Hatzitheodosiou. The mayor of Athens called on representatives of the commercial and industrial sectors to work together to combat and prevent delinquency and criminal activities, such as those recently uncovered.

Mr. Doukas detailed the initiatives undertaken by the Municipality of Athens, which has already launched a series of actions aimed at ensuring the smooth and transparent licensing and operation of shops, as well as the necessary controls by the relevant municipal services. These actions include:

• A comprehensive upgrade of the municipality’s information system, which will provide complete mapping of operating stores, their licenses, and their operating conditions.
• A significant change in the Regulations for stores, establishing strict conditions for their establishment and operation.
• The requirement for professionals to post a QR code at the entrance of their shops, displaying the operating license, the exact space allocated for tables and chairs, and the relevant plan drawn up by an engineer. Municipality inspectors equipped with tablets will be able to conduct electronic checks and spot violations, which will automatically be recorded in the municipality’s information system. Citizens will also be able to perform this check using their mobile phones.

“Our goal and commitment is to collaborate to support small and medium businesses and shops, breaking the cycle of corruption. That’s why we are announcing that we will proceed with new Regulations that will impose much stricter conditions on shop operations,” emphasized the mayor of Athens. He added, “We also announce that we will upgrade our information system for more efficient and transparent control processes. And because, as we all know, the problem isn’t confined to Athens, but is nationwide, we are resubmitting our proposal to the Ministry of the Interior to tighten the operating conditions for shops.”

The president of GSEVEE, Giorgos Kavvathas, stated: “We are here together with the mayor and the Chamber of Commerce of Athens to express our commitment to orderly market operations through rules. Rules that will secure the professionals, especially in the catering sector, with proposals and solutions that we will work on together with the municipality of Athens, both to protect business operations and public property and to ensure the orderly operation of shops.”

The president of the Professional Chamber of Athens, Yannis Hatzitheodosiou, added: “Together with GSEVEE and the mayor of Athens, we will support every effort to stop all these arbitrariness that harm entrepreneurship and development, not only in the municipality of Athens but in every region of the country. We urge every professional not to accept these situations but to report any illegal actions to the municipality and relevant agencies. With all our strength, we will ensure that these phenomena finally stop in our country.”