Press release · Municipality of Apokoronas

Apokoronas Mayor Hits Back After Port Chief Announces Harbour Works Without Warning

August 12, 2026 Original source ↗

Summary

On August 12, 2026, Dimitris Virirakis, president of the Chania Province Port Fund, arrived in Kalyves and publicly announced harbour improvement works — without giving the municipality of Apokoronas any advance notice. Mayor Charalampos Koukianakis condemned the visit as an institutional breach, noting that a public official announcing projects affecting local residents is obliged to coordinate with the elected local authority. The municipality also reiterated its push to establish its own local port fund, arguing that Apokoronas must have direct control over its own coastal infrastructure.

Mayor Koukianakis: "Apokoronas Harbours Are Not Anyone's Campaign Backdrop"

A surprise visit to the seaside village of Kalyves has sparked an unusually direct public confrontation between the municipality of Apokoronas and the head of the regional port authority. On August 12, 2026, Dimitris Virirakis — president of the Chania Province Port Fund — arrived in Kalyves, held a meeting with representatives of local recreational fishermen, and announced plans for harbour works, all without informing the municipality of Apokoronas beforehand.

What Happened

Virirakis travelled from Chania to Kalyves without notifying the mayor, the municipal council, or the municipal administration of Apokoronas. Even the president of the local recreational fishing association was only told at the very last moment and could not attend the meeting.

For Mayor Charalampos Koukianakis, this is not an administrative oversight — it is an institutional breach. When the head of a public body comes to a municipality and announces projects that directly affect its residents, he is obliged to act with transparency and coordination, regardless of his formal chain of command.

A Contradiction at the Heart of the Dispute

The incident is made more charged by an earlier contradiction. Virirakis has publicly opposed the creation of an independent municipal port fund for Apokoronas — a proposal the municipality has been pursuing precisely because it wants local control over its own harbours. Yet at a previous meeting of the Chania Chamber of Commerce (EVECH), attended by senior government officials and journalists, Virirakis acknowledged — when pressed by the mayor — that the harbour infrastructure of Apokoronas had been neglected.

The mayor's question follows logically: if the harbours have been neglected under the current arrangement, why resist the municipality's effort to take responsibility for them directly?

The Municipality's Position

The municipality is careful to distinguish between what it is and is not asking for. Nobody is demanding that Virirakis seek permission before visiting Apokoronas. He is not answerable to the mayor in any formal sense, and the municipality acknowledges that. What it does insist on is that a public official exercising his authority within the municipality — announcing projects, meeting stakeholders, making commitments — must do so through proper institutional channels, with the local authority informed and involved.

The municipality also notes that the visit was unannounced, took place alongside specific political figures, and creates legitimate questions about political intent. The municipality says it will not answer those questions itself — that is for Virirakis to do.

What the Municipality Wants

Apokoronas is pushing for a dedicated municipal port fund that would give the local authority direct oversight of its harbours. The municipality argues that the current situation — where decisions affecting local communities are made from Chania without local involvement — belongs to a past era of top-down governance.

Mayor Koukianakis was unambiguous: Apokoronas has an elected mayor, an elected council, and a community that pays close attention. The harbours need real investment and a real plan. Political photo opportunities are not enough.

Official source

Source translation

Machine-translated from the official source document.

Press Release – The Harbours of Apokoronas Are No One's Pre-Election Stage

August 12, 2026, 10:54 AM

We have now seen this too. And it is strongly reminiscent of old practices.

The President of the Port Fund of the Prefecture of Chania, Mr Dimitris Virirakis, comes from Chania to Kalyves to announce harbour works, meets with representatives of recreational fishermen, and the Municipality of Apokoronas, the Mayor, and the Municipal Authority have not even been informed.

Moreover, even the President of the Recreational Fishermen's Association could not attend, as he was informed literally at the last moment.

This is not merely an oversight.

It is an institutional transgression.

And it becomes even more provocative when the same person opposes the establishment of a Municipal Port Fund for Apokoronas, while publicly — in the presence of senior government officials and journalists, at a meeting at EVECH — he acknowledged, in response to a question from the Mayor, that the port infrastructure of Apokoronas has been neglected.

Let him explain to us, then:

If it has been neglected, why does he oppose the Municipality's effort to take responsibility for its future itself?

And one more thing.

It is Mr Virirakis's right to choose where he goes, whom he meets, and which political or local government figures he chooses to promote.

However, it is not his right to bypass the Municipality when speaking about projects in Apokoronas.

Mr Virirakis is not administratively accountable to the Mayor of Apokoronas, and no one is asking him to seek permission for his visits. He is, however, the President of a public body, and when he exercises his competencies in Apokoronas and announces projects that directly concern the local community, he is obliged to act with institutional notification, transparency, and cooperation with the relevant Municipality. For the manner in which he exercises his duties, he is accountable to the competent bodies of the Port Fund and is subject to the supervision of the responsible Ministry. Institutional cooperation is not an optional courtesy — it is an elementary rule of respect towards local self-government and the local community.

And when such a visit takes place without warning, without notification of the Municipal Authority, alongside specific political figures, legitimate political questions are naturally raised.

We will not answer them.

Let him answer them himself.

We say one thing clearly:

Apokoronas will not again become a field for personal promotion, political scheming, and "image sponsorships". The old practices, in which some decided about a place without the place, must remain in the past.

Apokoronas has a Mayor, has a Municipal Council, has an elected Municipal Authority, and has a community that watches.

And we will not allow anyone to decide about Apokoronas in Apokoronas's absence.

Our harbours need works and a plan — not political photographs.

And Apokoronas knows very well who fights for its interests and who, when it is time to speak, stays silent.

It knows it, sees it, and judges it.

And above all, the community of Apokoronas does not accept practices that hark back to other eras. Eras in which some believed they could decide about a place without the place itself, use institutions for personal promotion, and draw up political plans behind closed doors.

Those practices belong to the past.

Apokoronas moves forward — with institutions, transparency, cooperation, and clear roles.

And the community of Apokoronas will not allow anyone to take it backwards.

The harbours of Apokoronas belong to no political scheme. They belong to Apokoronas. And Apokoronas has the right to have a say in their future.

Mayor of Apokoronas

Charalampos Koukianakis