Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras paid a previously unannounced visit to the wildfire-ravaged Mati settlement in coastal eastern Attica prefecture on Tuesday, chairing a meeting that was bereft of television cameras and accompanying reporters, as a 24-hour media strike was in force.
Tsipras was accompanied by the relevant transport and infrastructure minister, Christos Spirtzis, during the two-hour meeting with local authorities and residents.
According to reports, Tsipras said the government tabled a draft law on Tuesday to define new building co-efficients for the ravaged settlement and terms for the reconstruction of damaged buildings, but within the prospective town planning design and rules that will apply.
Practically all of the structures destroyed in the wildfire, which claimed nearly 100 lives, were built without proper licenses and permits over the previous decades, mostly to serve as near-Athens holiday homes.
The devastating July 2018 wildfire generated a firestorm of criticism by opposition parties, the media and much of the country's public opinion against Tsipras and his poll-trailing leftist-rightist coalition government, with the primary charge pointing to a failure by police and the fire brigade to order an evacuation of the settlement.
