Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos on Wednesday told members of a relevant Parliament committee that his ministry has fielded an offer to commercially exploit an islet in the Saronic Gulf, off the greater Athens area, worth a whopping 100 million euros annually.
“Only from Fleves (the name of the uninhabited islet) the lease derived from the proposal to build a seven-star tourism enterprise is 100 million euros, benefiting the navy,” Kammenos said, referring to the owner of the state property, namely, the Hellenic Navy.
The outspoken Kammenos, who founded and leads the small rightist-populist Independent Greeks (AN.EL) party, said money from the concession would be funneled back to navy personnel, and for the building of officers’ quarters etc.
Nevertheless, Kammenos, the coalition partner in the current government, said any such prospect would be wholly separate and unattached to concessions overseen by the privatization fund, TAIPED.
The long-time Greek politician said his ministry is only considering leasing proposals, not sales of properties belonging to the armed forces.