In its statement, the committee said that under the law, once the signatures are submitted the municipal administration has one month to check their validity and the legality of the request, and to propose to the municipal council that a referendum be called with the proposed question. The committee said it plans to submit the request to the municipal administration on 2 March, while continuing to collect signatures until the end of February, despite having already exceeded the required threshold of 10% of registered voters.
‘When we began this unprecedented endeavour, on 7 April 2025, the goal seemed unattainable. However, thanks to the active participation of hundreds of members and volunteers of the initiative, but mainly thanks to the persistence and willingness of the people of Thessaloniki to come to the fore and take the situation into their own hands, the way is being opened for the first official municipal referendum in the history of our country,’ the statement said.
The committee said that for the result to be considered valid, turnout must reach at least 40% of voters. It added that the referendum would be advisory, because it concerns an issue that does not fall exclusively within the municipality’s competence, but argued that neither local nor central authorities would be able to ignore an expressed popular will. It said a referendum could bring to an end a dispute that has lasted at least 12 years, since an agreed plan for a new TIF site in Sindos and a metropolitan park in the city centre was abandoned.
The statement also said the mobilisation had already clarified two issues. First, it argued that the Superfund, as the current owner of the TIF, ‘cannot decide in the absence of the city’ and claimed that, under the pressure of a referendum, it has already retreated from an initial plan involving five large buildings, a hotel and a shopping centre. The committee said its next goals were to withdraw the presidential decree that enabled those uses, and to return ownership of the TIF site from the Superfund to the city and its residents.
Second, it said that as the government prepares to bring a new local government code to parliament which it claims would effectively abolish municipal referendums by removing citizens’ right to request them, the Thessaloniki referendum initiative is setting an example for those defending democracy, participation and local self-government.
In the full statement, the committee said it would continue collecting signatures to strengthen the request against any obstacles, adding that the law requires the referendum to proceed provided the question is clear, non-discriminatory, concerns no prohibited subject matter and can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It said the vote would then need to take place within one month of the municipal council’s decision, following a public debate that the council is legally obliged to organise and promote.
The committee said the municipal administration has publicly pledged to comply with the law, and expressed hope that it would not attempt to block the request on legal grounds or alter it by changing the proposed question. It noted that before signature collection began, a referendum proposal was submitted to the municipal council and rejected by a majority, regardless of how the question was worded.
It called on residents to continue signing and sharing the initiative’s online platform – https://parkodeth.gr/
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