Cavo Greco monastery legalisation battle moves to deviations council

Local ayia napaenvironmentnatura 2000Top News Cavo Greco monastery legalisation battle moves to deviations council 2 2 Relevant News Cavo Greco monastery legalisation battle moves to deviations council 21 August 2026 No positive sign from Turkish Cypriots before August 26 meeting 21 August 2026 Larnaca Municipality opens dialogue on new Local Plan 21 August 2026 Angelos Nicolaou 21 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber The battle over the illegal construction of the Holy Monastery of Saints Ephraim and Catherine, built in the heart of the protected Natura 2000 area at Cavo Greco, is continuing more than two and a half years after it began. Despite final court rulings, rejected applications and demolition orders, the Metropolis of Constantia and Famagusta is continuing its campaign to retroactively legalise the illegal works, and has now shifted the fight to the Council for the Study of Deviations, known by its Greek acronym SY.ME.PA. SY.ME.PA asked the Department of Environment to gather the positions of the members of the competent ad hoc committee handling the Special Ecological Assessment. The department did so by email on July 15, 2026, in order to form the council’s final opinion. The committee’s members are divided. State services, namely the Department of Forests and the Game and Fauna Service, have given a conditional green light, while the environmental organisations BirdLife Cyprus and Terra Cypria warn of a dangerous precedent. They are demanding that the application be rejected and all illegal interventions and structures removed. The committee members representing the environmental organisations argue that the Environmental Authority cannot revoke the demolition and restoration conditions attached to the monastery project by issuing a favourable Special Ecological Assessment report paired with compensatory measures, such as planting new trees, installing artificial nests for bees, birds and bats, or creating a rock garden and seasonal pond. They point to the unsustainable agricultural practices applied on the site, the unauthorised earthworks carried out there, and the illegal erection of buildings. The Department of Environment will now draft its final position, which is expected to largely shape SY.ME.PA’s ultimate decision on the future of the illegal structure. Legal background The Metropolis filed an appeal at the Administrative Court on May 28, 2024 against the Republic of Cyprus, naming the Interior Minister, the Department of Environment of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, and the Famagusta District Office of the Department of Town Planning and Housing. Alongside that appeal, the Metropolis sought to suspend several measures. These included an Enforcement Notice issued by the Famagusta District Office on March 28, 2024 ordering an immediate halt to all work and the removal of all illegal interventions within 15 days, and a Department of Environment letter dated March 29, 2024 requiring a demolition plan by April 3, 2024 and a restoration plan within a reasonable period. Also targeted were a May 2, 2024 letter from the Interior Ministry’s Director-General rejecting its hierarchical appeal, and a May 14, 2024 letter from the Famagusta District Office rejecting its application for a deviation planning permit and again ordering removal of the illegal works within 15 days. The Administrative Court’s Interim Decision, issued on July 25, 2024, found that the Metropolis had failed to establish manifest illegality or irreparable harm. The suspension application was rejected in full. State agencies lean in favour State authorities have taken a favourable view of the Metropolis’s application for a planning permit deviating from the Ayia Napa Local Plan. The Department of Forests, in a letter to SY.ME.PA dated March 10, 2026, said it did not object to the project going ahead, noting that it includes a monastery and a shelter for abuse victims. It argued the site had already been burdened by unsustainable agricultural practices, and that the development would boost biodiversity through the planting of 2,000 trees, the installation of artificial nests for birds, bees and bats, and the creation of a rock garden, a seasonal pond and watering points to support the presence and breeding of these species. The Game and Fauna Service, in a letter dated July 21, 2026, was also supportive, subject to 17 strict conditions. These include no widening or paving of the road network, exclusively organic farming, a ban on future extensions, restrictions on night lighting, and measures to keep cats out of the area. It specified that electrification must be carried out either through an underground network or a small, autonomous photovoltaic system, and that an autonomous system for treating grey water and sewage must be installed. Environmental groups firmly opposed Against this backdrop, BirdLife Cyprus and Terra Cypria have taken a starkly different view. BirdLife, the ornithological society, called the attempt to retroactively legalise illegal interventions unacceptable. The organisation argues the Special Ecological Assessment Study underestimates the site’s bird life: while the study recorded just 27 species, BirdLife’s own data show more than 160 bird species in the area. It also rejected the study’s claim that the project is “directly connected or necessary” for managing the protected area. BirdLife considers the measures proposed in the study to be largely management or ecological-enhancement measures, which on their own cannot demonstrate that the development will not negatively affect the conservation goals and integrity of the Natura 2000 areas. Terra Cypria, the Cyprus Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, points to extensive case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union requiring environmental assessments to be carried out in advance, not after the fact, to legalise a fait accompli. The organisation also cites the Administrative Court’s Interim Decision of July 25, 2024, which rejected the Metropolis’s bid to suspend the Enforcement Notice and demolition orders, stressing that the Environmental Authority is not authorised to overturn those decisions. Terra Cypria also raised a further, more technical concern: limits placed on conducting an Appropriate Assessment in the absence of specific conservation objectives and suitable management measures for the potentially affected Natura 2000 areas, as well as the rejection of a proposed limitation on the temporal effects of a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling dated July 16, 2026. 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