Protection For European Citizens Outside Europe

Protection For European Citizens Outside Europe By Christos ILIOPOULOS* Athens, 14 May 2021 If you hold a Greek passport, you are considered a European citizen, meaning a citizen of a member state of the European Union (EU). Holding a Greek / European passport entitles you to travel and move from one EU country to another without visa or other requirements, to establish yourself in any EU member state, to work and enjoy the basic benefits of life on that other member state and to avoid any discrimination against you because you are not a national of that member state. So, if you hold a Greek passport, you can travel, move, study, establish yourself, set up business, and provide services in any European country member of the EU, much like USA citizens move from one state to the other within the USA. Moreover, owning a EU passport can be beneficial in a foreign country, which is outside the European Union (a third country). Every EU citizen is entitled to consular protection for EU citizens abroad. Millions of European Union (EU) citizens travel or live outside the EU in places where their own country does not have an embassy or consulate. During their stay, they might need assistance from consular authorities, for instance if their passport is lost or stolen, if they are victims of an accident or if they find themselves in the middle of a political crisis which requires that they are evacuated. Thus, EU citizens in distress in a non-EU country have the right to enjoy the protection of the other EU countries’ embassies or consulates, if their own country is not represented. For example, if you hold a Greek (thus EU) passport and you encounter a crisis in a non – EU country, in case there is not a Greek Embassy or representation in that country, you are entitled to protection from the Embassy/Consulate of another EU country, like the Consulate of Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc. in that country. Other EU countries must provide unrepresented EU citizens with whatever assistance they would provide to their own nationals, such as assistance in cases of death, or serious accident or illness, in case of arrest or detention, if they are victims of a crime, and provide relief and repatriation in case of an emergency. This has actually been implemented in reality. An example one can remember is when Greek military and commercial ships successfully evacuated in the summer of 2014 not only Greek, but also other EU nationals from Libya during the chaos of civil war in that country. The citizen can be redirected from one embassy to another, as EU countries present in the country can agree locally on who should take care of whom in order to ensure efficient protection for EU citizens. European Union Citizens can get information on assistance available by contacting the EU Delegation in the country in question. European law guarantees that unrepresented citizens are duly taken into account and fully assisted in crisis situations. In such cases, a clear division of responsibilities and coordination is essential to avoid that EU citizens are neglected. If the assistance provided implies costs or fees, unrepresented EU citizens should not have to pay more than the citizens of the EU country which assists them. Citizens who are not able to pay these costs on the spot will be asked to sign a form by which they undertake to repay those costs to their own authorities. *Christos ILIOPOULOS, attorney at the Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M. www.greekadvocate.eu e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr

Ktimatologio , E9 and ENFIA crucial for your property in Greece

Ktimatologio , E9 and ENFIA crucial for your property in Greece By Christos ILIOPOULOS* Athens, 1st May 2021 What would possibly connect a court claim for a piece of property, with payment of the property tax for it? The answer is Greek law. The Greek administration has invented several ways to force property owners to pay property tax. Some call it extortion. Some others believe it is a reasonable measure to enforce the law. Even several courts in Greece have issued rulings stating that the law which says that if you have not paid your property tax, you can’t protect your property from trespassers at the court, is unconstitutional, because the law can’t deprive a property owner from his inalienable human right to seek court protection for his threatened private property, if the owner has not paid property tax. The reality is that, as a lawyer, I have to advise a client who wishes to claim a property at the court, that one of the preconditions for our civil lawsuit action to be considered admissible by the court, is to produce written proof that this specific property has been filed at the E9 tax listing of properties and the ENFIA yearly property tax has been paid. This is a secure way to know that the court will accept to review our action. Every property owner in Greece, therefore, must know that listing his/her real estate properties to the E9 tax registry and paying the ENFIA property tax is a requirement for keeping their properties’ status updated. Moreover, property owners can’t sell or transfer the property to anyone, unless they have listed the accurately described real estate to the E9 tax registry and have paid the ENFIA. This means that house, plot and land owners who own them with titles, deeds and survey maps dated before 2010, may have to retain a civil engineer to measure their properties again today, using a modern GPS – based system, in order to obtain their more accurate measurements, which they have to then update with their E9 tax filing. Because, when they are to sell or transfer them, or even declare them to the modern land registry called Ktimatologio, they have to describe them in a most detailed way, to ensure legal certainty and technical accuracy and to avoid or minimize disputes and court litigation with neighbours or relatives who may claim the same property for themselves. Only yesterday sources at the Greek government revealed a plan that tax auditors will obtain access to the E9 tax listings of property owners and to their respective Ktimatologio land registry filings. Their aim will be to compare, for any taxpayer in question, the two property filing systems and confirm whether properties listed with the Ktimatologio land registry have also been listed to the E9, so that property taxes are paid correctly. If the auditors discover that a tax payer has omitted or “forgotten” to list in the E9 tax filing one or more properties registered with the Ktimatologio land registry, they will impose retroactive fines and taxes. In addition, any legal change, development, sale or transfer of the property in question will be put on hold, until the property is accurately described in both E9 tax filing and the Ktimatologio land registry. . *Christos ILIOPOULOS, attorney at the Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M. www.greekadvocate.eu e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr