Happy New Year From AthensLive! 🎉

Dear reader,

This is our weekly round-up from Greece.

The new year kicked off with a highly discriminatory regulation that allows ‘as an exemption’ for public transportation to deny embarkation to disabled people should those in charge deem it is not safe enough - instead of improving transportation to be accessible to all. There has undoubtedly been some improvement since ancient Sparta times when they were throwing disabled babies in the Kaidas Gorge. 

‘We hate that the new Athens mayor is not ND” - The sequel. Reports on governmental plans to remove the municipal radio from the Athens mayor’s authority to the regional governor’s -their ND man Hardalias- have been refuted. Yet, we shall wait and see. 

2024 started with a mini cabinet reshuffle. Our “national” Citizen Protection minister is back in place, while the Health Ministry will be headed by someone who had left too bitter memories from the early memoranda years.  

Greece allows banning people with disabilities from public transportation

Yes, we haven’t mistyped anything: Greece’s Ministry of Transportation from now on allows public transportation to deny embarkation to people with disabilities “if the infrastructure is not suitable.”

Every citizen, and especially people with disabilities or reduced movement ability, has the right to board and use, with no direct or indirect discrimination, public transportation by paying the administered corresponding fee, the new Regulation for Passengers Rights states (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).  

At the same time, though, the new Regulation clearly states that it is permitted as an exception to deny booking and issuing of tickets as well as embarking to people for whom this is not safe or operationally feasible due to disability or reduced mobility

“and for the vehicles to comply with the security demands in effect according to the international, European and national law as well as health and security requirements as defined by the responsible authorities or in case the design of the vehicle or the infrastructure constitutes embarkation, disembarkation or transport of the person with disability or reduced mobility impossible to be safe and operationally feasible.” 

At the same time, the Regulation provides that a person has the right to a refund or to their escort person embark for free. 

Some fines are also set in case of discrimination due to race and for denying entry to people with disabilities - apart from reasons set in the ‘exception’ clause.