[ad_1]
Most drivers do not remember if they raped, others say categorically that the date they appear to have parked illegally did not go through the center or even that they were outside of Athens. Σύνολο The total of confirmed debts that the City Council of Athens wants to collect amounts to 20 million euros, according to competent executives. A storm of reactions from the opposition demanding a courageous arrangement to “cut” debts by up to 50% and the simultaneous payment in installments of the remaining debt.
The Municipality of Athens has begun a sudden “safari” of collecting fines for calls that have been cut up until … five years ago, amid a health crisis and financial uncertainty, if not misery. Hundreds of citizens have been summoned in recent days to pay fines to the municipal coffers for violations of the Road Traffic Code, mainly for illegal parking, which have been identified by the Traffic or Municipal Police even between 2015-2016.
Most of them are logically unable to remember if they committed an offense, others say categorically that the date they appear to have parked illegally did not go through the center or was still outside of Athens.
The issue has dominated social media and, in some cases, is raised in the context of the provocative post by Deputy Mayor for Development and Entrepreneurship N. Makropoulos about his nostalgia for the brilliant Aston Martin and his home in Baden Baden, which It turned out to comment on the distance that separates the municipal authority and the citizenry in terms of perception of daily problems.
The truth is that the practice of deferred collection of calls – abusive, according to the lawyers – is not applied for the first time: the municipal authority alleges that this is a process that is done “repeatedly”, the opposition recalls that a similar practice was applied of “broom” in the 2000s under the mayor of Dora Bakoyannis, when the Deputy Mayor for Finance was the, now Deputy Minister of Finance, Th. Skylakakis. Today in the municipality of Atenas, Finance responsibilities have been concentrated by the mayor himself, K. Bakogiannis.
The total of the confirmed debts that the City Council of Athens wants to collect from the calls amounts to 20 million euros, according to competent executives. Among them are calls that were cut three, four or five years ago, but of which drivers were informed today. How does this great time difference arise? The call is cut by an instrument of the Police (Greek or Municipal) and left on the windshield of the car. If it is not paid within a few months, the debt is confirmed, the owner of the car is searched and a payment notice is sent to the municipality. How is it possible that the car owner has never seen the call and suddenly after years the notification is sent to him? The weather may have dissolved or removed the calling card, someone parked next door moved the call to another car to make it look like they had legally parked, someone familiar took the car without the owner’s knowledge; These are some more common cases that describe municipal officials.
The phenomenon of sending calls from previous years “is always massive,” he tells “Ef.Syn.” The Deputy Mayor of Municipal Police and Public Space, V. Koromantzos, described that the corresponding procedures are initiated every two years and usually take “one to two years” from the time a call is cut and the debt is confirmed by the municipal services.
“Infinite errors”
In the evolving “safari” there are many cases of “criminals” saying that calls were dropped due to non-existent violations. In addition to the “sufferers” who speak today in “Ef.Syn”. (see below), is also aware of the opposition “infinite errors”. For his part, Koromantzos responds that “it is unlikely that someone, let’s say human, made a mistake. It is not possible that there is a coincidence in the number and make of the car” that appears in the summons. Even if the call was dropped without the driver’s knowledge, “it doesn’t mean there was no violation,” he said.
“Bad management and analgesia” is the dilemma that describes the current “wave” of fines, according to the head of the “Open City”, N. Iliopoulos: “Bad management because we refer to fines that confirm infractions even in 2016 and in the that there are many errors. Analgesia because in the midst of a pandemic and the economic difficulties it has caused, the municipality is moving to new burdens. In the first place, it is the right of every citizen, in addition to the debt certificate, to have access to their own This is the only way to deal with the many errors that have been reported. At the same time, a courageous arrangement is required for a debt reduction that can go up to 50% and at the same time repayment in installments of the remaining debt. “The financial stagnation of the municipality should not be transferred to the citizens,” stresses Mr. Iliopoulos in “Ef.Syn.” The issue is expected to be raised by the “Open City” at today’s meeting of the City Council of Athens.
The payment term is suffocating
The citizens who received the calls must pay the corresponding fine within a short period of time. If calls are not paid before 12/31/2020, surcharges will be charged. In the current framework, citizens can request a refund of the amount in 24 installments.
At the same time, the Ministry of the Interior is expected to reestablish the regulation for the reimbursement of certified debts to local authorities and their legal entities up to 120 installments and the possibility of total cancellation of surcharges in case the initial debt is pay in a lump sum. The relevant provision is being processed and will probably be presented to Parliament within a week.
“The benefit of the municipality with the income is definitely abusive, if not illegal”
Lawyer Antonia Legaki characterizes the Athens City Council’s practice of seeking summons debts that were cut 3-4 years ago as a “monument to abuse” of the law. Talking to “Ef.Syn”. It highlights that, contrary to the principle established by the law of seeking a legal debt within a reasonable period of time, in this case citizens “are not able to know if what is confirmed is true, that is, to remember where they had parked before 3-4 years, and prove otherwise in the event that this sentence has been improperly imposed. “
“We do not have blind confidence in a person, whoever he is, that he did not play three or four calls to the same car number, because it is convenient, because that is how money is raised for the municipality. This is one version. Another version, much more common, is that when writing police cars, like all people, many times we make mistakes. And a mistake in a number changes the debtor. And this the citizen cannot look for it nor prove it when the call arrives 3-4 years later ”, emphasizes Mrs. Legaki.
The lawyer speaks of a practice “by deception”: “If the municipal police have to go out and write a series of cars that park illegally and are treated in one way or another when they write, it is much easier to continue writing the same cars to through office security and to put different streets that they are supposed to park on. To produce industries and suddenly people who had a call, be with 25 or 35 calls, the first thing that comes to mind is the deception, ”he explains.
“For so many years, there were no calls. If the real reason is that the services are delayed, the calls should come back at some rate. Not opening the skies. The fact that it rained calls in 2020 for the years 2016 and 2017, while in 2019 there were no calls for 2015 and 2014, it shows exactly that there was a political decision and the mayor of Athens is responsible for the political decision. “And the benefit of the municipality with the income is definitely abusive, not to say illegal” says Ms. Legaki.
“It is an opportunity to fill the coffers, after they were emptied with the Big Walk”
“More than a salary, but definitely less than the cost of the deputy mayor’s visit to Baden-Baden,” says KD, who must pay 1,140 euros in a month for calls he did not receive at the time.
At the moment when on Facebook the Deputy Mayor for Development, Entrepreneurship and Investment of the Athens City Council, Nikolaos Makropoulos, feels nostalgic for “his beautiful house in Baden Baden, his favorite Aston Martin” and “the indescribable peace of the Black Forest “, countless desperate citizens on social media Making dramatic posts about outrageous amounts requested by the Athens City Council in the middle of a pandemic: to pay until 12/31 for calls from … 2016.
“More than a salary, but definitely less than a visit to Baden-Baden costs,” says KD, who must pay 1,140 euros a month for calls he did not receive at the time. “In 2018 I went to the municipality and asked to pay what I owed. I paid for everything and they told me there is nothing else. Indeed, the calls are confirmed after a few years and that is why this year the 2016 ones arrived. You cannot even check where they are then and question them, as if you had lost the opportunity to pay half the amount. The system is perforated and we will live in a state of constant surprise ”.
This is exactly what Gina T says: “I was looking on Google Maps for the way the newspaper writes, to understand. I can’t find a reason to park in 2017 in Metaxourgeio. I never remember the 2-3 times I have been there in my life to park, much less find a call. It’s about 150 euros without even explaining more … “He tried to call the Municipality of Athens, but in the middle of the quarantine in vain.
Author Pella Soultatou received a notice of 400 euros for 5 calls in 2016 and 2017. “I’m sure I paid for some and I guess I never found them,” she says. When he posted on Facebook about the incident, he soon realized that it was a common problem shared by hundreds of his friends online. “This is immoral in the times we live in,” he concludes. “I should probably be grateful, just 150 euros,” says Sofia Konstantaki, praising a 2015 fine for a rape on a street in Kypseli, in her neighborhood. “The feeling of arbitrariness bothered me more.” If they don’t explain what you’ve done, you can’t answer. “
For Kalliopi Takaki, the fine was a “family affair”: she and her parents received a call of 150 euros each. “We laugh when we receive them.” They are put in the refrigerator, we look at them, they look at us and we wonder, “he jokes. The fines were also familiar to Dora Vlachou who received two calls of 80 euros each with her mother.” It’s an opportunity to fill the coffers after they were emptied with the Big Walk. I made the mistake of paying, but it’s unfair to ask for those amounts today. “You feel like the state is not close to you.”
Ariadne Kanavaki, a private employee at a mental health center, remembers the incident accurately: Four years ago, a family friend with a health problem visited Hippocrates and went to visit her. “The municipal police never called me. They only told me to move the car. Now a call for 80 euros came. It is unacceptable this year that it is so difficult for all of us to ask for extra money. Is this the municipality’s social work?
EVA PAPADOPOULOU
