Greece to cancel controversial church land-swap

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The Associated Press Published: October 3, 2008
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ATHENS, Greece: Greece's government said Friday it had revoked a series of land-swap deals with an Orthodox monastery that allegedly cost taxpayers tens of millions of euros.

"Today, an executive decision has been issued to annul three decisions that ... recognize the Vatopedi Monastery as the title holder of state land," Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said.

Greece's top public prosecutor has ordered an investigation into the deal, which prompted a minister to resign last month, adding to the troubles of embattled Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

The swaps started after 1999, when the government recognized a claim to public land in northern Greece by the 1,000-year-old Vatopedi Monastery. The monastery is on the autonomous monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece.

Vatopedi agreed to relinquish the lakeside property — which has been farmed for decades and includes a nature reserve — receiving in exchange state-owned plots throughout northern Greece.

But an initial investigation last month by Supreme Court prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas found that the monastery benefited by at least €100 million (US$140 million) from the swap.

Alogoskoufis, the finance minister, said the state was reclaiming all land ceded to the monastery — including plots that Vatopedi had since sold and the property by Lake Vistonida.

Rocked by a series of allegedly unethical financial transactions, the governing conservatives recently slipped behind opposition Socialists in opinion polls for the first time in nearly eight years.

Vatopedi is one of the largest of the 20 monasteries on Mount Athos, where women — and even female animals — have been banned for 1,000 years.

The monastery is a treasure house of mediaeval artifacts and books. It attracts large numbers of male guests, including Britain's Prince Charles, who is a frequent visitor to Athos.

The church holds powerful influence in a country where Christian Orthodoxy is the faith of about 97 percent of the native-born population.

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