Evros: Katsafados on ITI, States Plan Approaches 3 Billion

Deputy Minister Kostas Katsafados positioned himself in late September 2026 on the financing of Evros reconstruction, responding to criticism over the matter of resources. As reported by voria.gr and reporter.gr, the central axis of his positioning is that the ITI programme for Evros, worth 309 million euros, does not replace the overall plan, which according to him approaches 3 billion euros. The financing mechanisms, as he argued, are complementary to each other and do not function as alternative options. Reporter.gr attributes to Kostas Katsafados the statement: “The 3 billion did not become 309. Not only did it not decrease, but it increased.” To support his position, the deputy minister cited specific items: the upgrade of the railway line Alexandroupoli–Orminio, worth 895 million euros with European financing, the FSRU with approximately 226–227 million euros, a technical project of approximately 181–182 million euros, and the facilities of Democritus University, worth 133 million euros.

The context of the discussion is the reconstruction of Evros following the destruction that affected the region and the ongoing question of how many resources are actually made available and through which tools. The ITI, that is the Integrated Territorial Investment, is a way to concentrate actions and financing around a specific geographic area, with unified planning and with the aim of its developmental support. It is a tool with clear spatial orientation, which by its nature concerns a part of the interventions and not necessarily the entirety of what is planned or implemented in a place. The deputy minister’s response moves precisely on this point, as it seeks to position the 309 million euros as a part of a broader whole.

The distinction between a programme and the entirety of financing has practical significance for the region, because it determines which magnitude is used as a basis for comparison. If the ITI is examined in isolation, the amount of 309 million euros constitutes the whole of a specific tool. If, on the other hand, projects with different financing sources are jointly considered, such as those mentioned by the deputy minister, the resulting picture is larger, according to his presentation. The amount of 3 billion euros remains an estimate by the deputy minister and is not confirmed here by an independent source, while the content of the criticism and who made it are not identified in the information accompanying the statement. The only certainty is that this is a political positioning that responds to another political positioning.

The question that remains open concerns the manner in which the individual amounts will be documented and presented so as to be comparable to each other. The local communities and bodies of Evros, which are following the reconstruction, have every reason to demand a clear picture of what is being financed, by which mechanism and for what purpose. The two publications, by voria.gr and reporter.gr, record the deputy minister’s position without adding new information beyond what he himself cited. The continuation of the discussion will depend on whether and how further clarifications will be given regarding the projects mentioned and their relationship to the ITI programme.