Development, Competitiveness & Shipping Minister Anna Diamantopoulou and Labour Minister Yiorgos Koutroumanis signed yesterday an agreement with City of Athens Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis for the regeneration of inner city districts. 

The "Athens Again" project, which has the approval of the European Commission Task Force for Greece, is an attempt to breathe new life into the city of Athens over the next decade through funds from the 2014-2020 National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), which will be managed by the City of Athens.

Measures and actions, worth €120 million, to be undertaken  immediately, include strengthening local entrepreneurship and competitiveness, upgrading the quality of life for urban dwellers, regeneration of the urban tissue, and managing the social-side of the crisis.

Among other things, the project envisages the transformation of three abandoned hotels -considered monuments of contemporary history- in the city centre, around Omonoia Square (Bageion, Megas Alexandros, and Olympias), into centres of promoting entrepreneurship, traditional professions and local markets and products. 

City of Athens: Press Release (in Greek); Greek news Agenda: Rethink Athens-Revive Athens