Press release · Municipality of Apokoronas

Apokoronas mayor raises alarm as cooperative properties head to auction — and an Irish fund may win

July 10, 2026 Original source ↗

Summary

Apokoronas Mayor Charalampos Koukianakis published an urgent public statement on July 10, 2026, appealing to the Greek Prime Minister, parliament, and the Governor of the Bank of Greece after two buildings from the former Apokoronas-Sfakia Agricultural Cooperative were auctioned off — with a claims management firm acting for a Dublin-based investment fund as the likely buyer. The municipality had fought to split the properties into separate lots and lower the minimum bids, winning that legal battle, but the court refused to delay the auction long enough for the municipal water company DEYA to submit a qualifying bid. The mayor is now calling for systemic legal reform to protect public-interest assets from foreign financial investors.

Apokoronas Fights to Keep Cooperative Buildings Out of Foreign Fund's Hands

In a striking public statement released on July 10, 2026, Apokoronas Mayor Charalampos Koukianakis called on the Greek Prime Minister, all members of parliament, and the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Giannis Stournaras, to intervene in what he describes as a fundamental failure of the state to protect public interest assets from foreign financial investors.

At the centre of the dispute are two buildings that once belonged to the Apokoronas-Sfakia Agricultural Cooperative — structures built, as the mayor puts it, "by the sweat of local farmers" to serve the collective needs of the community. Those buildings are now being sold through forced auction, with a claims management company reportedly acting on behalf of an investment fund based in Dublin.

How the Municipality Fought — and What It Won

The story began when the two buildings were listed for auction as a single lot, with a combined starting bid of €695,328.92. That figure was simply out of reach for the DEYA Apokoronas, the municipality's water and sewerage company, which is still in its early years of operation.

The municipality pushed back through the courts, arguing — and proving — that the two buildings are legally distinct and separate properties. The Chania Court of First Instance agreed, ordered the split, and set individual starting bids of €245,000 for the first building and €355,000 for the second. It was a clear legal victory.

What followed was a race against the clock. Within just eight days, the municipality convened both its town council and the DEYA board, formally declared its interest in purchasing the properties, applied to the court for a direct transfer to the DEYA, requested a suspension of the auction, notified the Bank of Greece, and personally asked Governor Stournaras to intervene.

The Court Said No

Despite all of this, the court refused to grant even a short postponement — not a month, not even a few weeks — to allow the legal transfer process to be properly examined. The auction went ahead, and the conditions were reportedly changed during the process itself.

The result: a public-interest utility company could not acquire a building intended to serve local residents, while a financial firm with a reported share capital of just one euro — yet managing assets worth millions — was in a position to do so.

A Question That Goes Beyond Apokoronas

Mayor Koukianakis does not frame this as a local grievance alone. He asks a question with national implications: how can it be legal for a foreign-backed financial firm to acquire through auction a property built for public benefit, while the local municipality and its utility company are shut out?

"Today it is not a building being auctioned," he writes. "It is the trust of citizens in the state."

He points to a broader pattern that worries many communities across Greece: financial firms with minimal capital but enormous reach acquiring cooperative, public, and even private assets through the auction system — assets that took generations to build.

What This Means for Residents

For people living in Apokoronas, the practical consequences are real. The DEYA had planned to house its operations in one of the buildings. If the property passes to a private investor, the utility will need to find and fund alternative premises — a cost that ultimately falls on local taxpayers.

More broadly, the case raises a question that every municipality in Greece may soon face: if a public utility cannot compete against a foreign fund in a court-ordered auction, what protection do ordinary property owners have?

What the Mayor Is Demanding

Koukianakis is not asking for special treatment. He is asking for a level playing field — and for the Greek state to clarify, in law and in practice, that public interest carries weight when it goes up against financial capital.

His demands, addressed to the Prime Minister and parliament:

Reform auction rules so that municipalities and public-interest companies have a genuine opportunity to acquire properties that serve community needs
Guarantee that the state will stand beside local communities when they face powerful financial mechanisms
Recognise that collective assets built by local communities should not be transferred to unconnected foreign investors without meaningful safeguards

"We are not asking for privileges," he writes. "We are asking for justice, equality before the law, and respect for the history of this place."

Date of statement: July 10, 2026
Properties involved: Two former Apokoronas-Sfakia Agricultural Cooperative buildings
Starting bids after court ruling: €245,000 (building 1), €355,000 (building 2)
Original combined starting bid: €695,328.92
Municipal entity seeking acquisition: DEYA Apokoronas (water and sewerage)
Opposing party: Claims management company acting for a Dublin-based investment fund

Official source

Source translation

Machine-translated from the official source document.

PRESS RELEASE

"When society loses and the funds win… then Democracy is wounded."

STATEMENT BY THE MAYOR OF APOKORONAS, CHARALAMPOS KOUKIANAKIS

Today it is not a property being auctioned — it is the trust of citizens in the state, the belief that the labour of an entire society can still be protected. Today it is being tested whether the Greek State truly stands beside local communities or whether they are ultimately left defenceless against powerful financial mechanisms. As Mayor of Apokoronas I feel the obligation to address publicly the Prime Minister of the country, the Members of the Greek Parliament, the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Mr Giannis Stournaras — whom we have already informed — as well as every institutional body that continues to believe that the Public Interest cannot yield before financial profit.

We waged a quiet, persistent, and entirely institutional struggle. When the two properties of the former Agricultural Cooperative of Apokoronas-Sfakia appeared as a single property with an initial offer price of €695,328.92, it was objectively impossible for the Municipal Water and Sewerage Company of Apokoronas (DEYA) to participate, as it was still in its first steps. Through legal actions and documented interventions in cooperation with the liquidator of the Apokoronas-Sfakia Cooperative, we proved that these were two different, separate, and independent properties, and the Court of First Instance of Chania fully vindicated our position. It ordered their separation and set separate initial offer prices — €245,000 for the one property and €355,000 for the second.

From that moment a real race against time began. Within just eight days:

the Municipal Council convened,
the Board of Directors of DEYA Apokoronas convened,
official interest in acquiring the property was expressed,
an application was submitted to the Court for free disposal,
a suspension of the auction was requested,
the Bank of Greece was informed,
the personal intervention of its Governor, Mr Giannis Stournaras, was requested — with the sole purpose of keeping the property within the local community, housing the needs of DEYA Apokoronas, and continuing to serve the public-benefit purpose for which it was created.

And yet… The Court did not give even one month, did not give even a few weeks for the possibility of a lawful transfer of the property to a Municipal Public Utility Company to be substantively examined, while during the course of the auction the terms were changed.

Thus a question is reasonably raised that does not concern only Apokoronas: How is it possible that a property created by the sweat of the farmers and the society of Apokoronas, to serve collective needs, cannot remain in the society that created it?

And an even greater question: How is the Public Interest protected when, standing against a Municipality and a Municipal Public Utility Company, there is a claims management company acting on behalf of a foreign investment scheme based in Dublin, which is itself seeking to acquire the property through the auction?

Our people have a characteristic expression: "Giannis serves the drinks, Giannis drinks them." And unfortunately, this is the feeling created in the citizens today. Citizens see an entire society struggling to keep its property, and facing it a financial mechanism operating on behalf of a foreign fund. How can they not feel that their properties are at the mercy of economic mechanisms that operate like predators over public, cooperative, and private property alike, when even a Municipality and a Municipal Company cannot protect a property intended exclusively to serve the public interest?

We cannot also ignore that, according to published data, the specific company has a share capital of just one (1) euro, while it is called upon to manage assets worth millions of euros and to determine the fate of historic assets of entire local communities.

I ask publicly the Prime Minister of the country, all Members of the Greek Parliament, and every competent institutional actor: Is this the state we want? A state where a Municipal Public Utility Company cannot acquire a property to house the needs of municipal residents, but a financial mechanism representing a foreign investment scheme can?

If this is the answer, then it is not only Apokoronas that is at risk — at risk is every municipality, cooperative, family, and citizen who believes that the state will stand beside them when they face powerful economic mechanisms.

We ask only that the Greek State proves that the Public Interest continues to constitute the supreme priority. That local communities are not expendable and that the history, the memory, and the collective property of this place are not valued solely in terms of financial profit.

As Mayor of Apokoronas I declare that I will not remain silent and will never accept that the property created by generations of people with sweat, toil, and sacrifice will pass without protest into hands that have no connection whatsoever to our place.

We do not ask for privileges. We ask for justice, equality before the law, respect for the history of this place. We ask the Greek State to prove that societies have greater value than the balance sheets of funds.

If Apokoronas is not protected today, tomorrow no one can be certain that they themselves will be protected. Because today it is not only the fate of two properties being judged. Today the trust of citizens in the institutions and the very face of Greek Democracy itself are being judged.

Charalampos Koukianakis Mayor of Apokoronas