Filenews 23 July 2023 - by Dora Christodoulou
Generations of Paphians grew up considering the area for which the Metropolis of Pafos and the municipal authority quarrel, what its name indicates: Public Garden.
A green space that belongs to the city and its people, being the most important green lung of the city that is the centre of the neoclassical buildings for which Pafos is famous.
Since 1981, however, things have changed dramatically in the Church and the Municipality: The then municipal authority, by decision in 1981, included the Public Garden plot in zone Z1, reducing its building ratio from 160% to just 1%, effectively eliminating the economic value of the estate for residential development and remaining as a green area. This dispute for many years did not affect public life in Pafos, nor the relations between the two parties, the Metropolis as owner of the site and the Municipality as its administrator. However, in recent years things have changed dramatically. Along with everyone's relationships with everyone.
The last and clearly most serious incident took place last week: By a court decision, at the request of the Metropolis of Pafos, the bank assets of the Municipality of Pafos were frozen, in a surprising development that caused shock.
The application of the new Metropolitan of Pafos, Tychikos, concerned the non-payment of an amount of €8 million as compensation that the municipal authority was required to pay to the Church since 2021 for the annihilation of the value of its property in the Pafos Public Garden. The non-payment of this huge sum prompted the Diocese to go to court again, requesting the issuance of a decree freezing assets of the Municipality amounting to €8 million, a decision which was issued.
This development causes practical problems in the implementation of the plans of the municipal authority and essentially ties the hands of the Municipality for every action it promotes. It is no longer unlikely that the municipality will be in the position of defaulting, they stressed, if there are no immediate developments on the issue.
The Church's demand for compensation due to the zero development rate in the Public Garden, decided by the Municipality of Pafos, was formalized in 2010, when a lawsuit by the Diocese of Pafos was filed in court. This action was directed not only against the municipal authority of Pafos, but also against the Attorney General of the Republic and the Council of Ministers and concerned a total claim for damages amounting to €26 million plus interest.
The Pafos District Court issued its decision in 2021, pointing out that the competent municipal authority with its decision in 1981 included the Public Garden plot in zone Z1, reducing its building ratio from 160% to 1%, resulting in a substantial reduction in the economic value of the estate. On the basis of the judgment, with reference to the article of the Constitution protecting the right to property, the court ordered the Municipality of Pafos to pay compensation of €4 million for the substantial reduction in the value of the property of the Metropolis, an amount that with interest currently slightly exceeds €8 million.
The move of the Metropolis of Pafos to seek judicial enforcement of a decision of the Pafos District Court seems to be the tip of the iceberg in the lately frosty relations between the two leading institutions of Pafos.
The Mayor of Pafos apologized after the developments, referring to actions that although legal, not moral, for the slide of the Metropolis of Pafos into unacceptable actions. Phedon Phedonos argued that the Municipality did not proceed with the payment of the amount of €8 million since in oral consultation with the former Metropolitan and current Archbishop of Cyprus, George, it had been agreed that the Church would not demand this payment, pending the decision of the Supreme Court to which the Municipality appealed against the first instance decision.
Although the appeal does not have a suspensive effect against the first instance decision, he said, the former Metropolitan of Pafos made it clear to me that he will not come now to claim these millions, but will await the outcome of our appeal to the Supreme Court. What is happening now with the current Metropolitan, moving and freezing money without even informing us that he has changed the policy of his predecessor and without giving us even a deadline to give him the amount awarded by the court, is completely out of all logic.
Retaliation for the cathedral
Asked to comment on the position of many in Pafos that this hardening of the Church's stance towards the municipal authority is a retaliation for the city's refusal to accept the construction of a new cathedral in part of the Public Garden requested by the Metropolis, the Mayor of Pafos referred to a huge misunderstanding that prevails among many in the city. He clarified that the City Council approved the construction application. What happened, however, he clarified, is that the Department of Environment placed a restriction that this church cannot exceed 420sq.m., instead of the 650sq.m. that was the request of the Metropolis.
But while, Mr. Phedonos stressed, the Church could act on the side of the Government for derogatory approval for the area they were requesting, the former Metropolitan of Pafos chose to put aside the issue in view of the archdiocesan elections so as not to find it in front of him and have a cost, given that people in Pafos are divided on the issue of building a church in the Public Garden.
The Municipality of Pafos, he continued, is now in a difficult position due to the lack of understanding with the Metropolis. If they informed us of their intentions, we could go to court with the appropriate procedure that exists, i.e. ask for a stay of execution of the first instance judgment until our appeal to the Supreme Court is heard. However, the Metropolitan of Pafos refuses any contact, not only with us, but with any citizen or religious commissioner, unless an email is sent in advance and with the issue we wish to discuss with him, he said.
On the substance of the case after this development, Phedon Phedonos expressed his concern about the proper functioning of the Municipality, given that, as he said, the money is blocked for the payroll at the end of the month of the 800 employees of the Municipality and for the progress of the renovation works that are in progress and for the contribution of the Municipality to co-financed projects. We are already in constant contact with the Presidential Council and with the competent ministries to see how to escape these risks, he concluded.
The Metropolitan sees annihilation of the value of property
The Metropolis of Pafos described the allegations of the Mayor of Pafos as unfounded and offensive. It states that the judicial measures for the execution of the decision for the compensation of €8 million were taken on the advice of the lawyer of the Diocese of Pafos. Because this is a purely legal matter, he clarifies, further explanations will be given by the lawyer handling the case.
The Metropolis of Pafos denounces the Mayor of Pafos for continuing to apply the tactic of annihilating the property of the Church in Pafos and for this reason the Metropolis and the Metropolitan are obliged to go to court again to protect its property, which belongs to the Christ-named crew of the Church of Pafos.
The legal dispute over the Garden between the Metropolis, the Municipality and the Republic of Cyprus dates back to 2010. The then Metropolitan George, as custodian of the Church's property in Pafos, appealed to the court demanding compensation as defined in Article 23.3 of the Constitution for the substantial reduction of the value of its property, since after the imposition of a zone of 1% it was completely annihilated. What the mayor of Pafos has been hurling in recent days is baseless and offensive, the Metropolis concludes.
