Much has been said and written about Local Government and how to achieve the reform sought for years. The debate on the reform of the Local Government goes back many years while the whole issue appeared more intensely during the government of Dimitris Christofias. The need for radical restructuring of the Local Government system began to become more urgent in the first years of the financial crisis, where the dominant issue in terms of Municipalities was the continuous strong financial support from the state and the "untold" debts of almost all Municipalities of Cyprus.
The aspects of the Local Government reform are several. However, the main question is whether in the context of the reform there will be a reduction in the number of Municipalities or whether in the end the political parties and the government will be limited only to some formal changes and clustering of some services.
The 30 Municipalities that exist today in the free areas. In the Province of Nicosia there are 10 Municipalities, in the Provinces of Limassol and Larnaca there are 6 Municipalities and in the Provinces of Paphos and Free Famagusta from 4 Municipalities.
Two studies, one conclusion, five scenarios
Two studies have been done in recent years. One from the side of the Union of Municipalities (from an Italian House) and one from the side of English Experts in the framework of the Memorandum. The findings of the surveys, both the most recent and the oldest, are clear and have a common conclusion: On the one hand, Cyprus is too small to have 30 Municipalities (in the free areas) and another 350 Community authorities and on the other hand no reform can not be considered radical and corrective unless the number of Municipalities is reduced.
In the two studies (Italian and British) different scenarios are presented as well as different approaches in terms of how and the schedule that should be followed in order to achieve the Reform.
It is already known that the research of the English experts presented three scenarios of reform:
- One with a reduction of Municipalities to 5 (one per province),
- a scenario with a reduction of Municipalities to 10 and
- a third with the creation of a secondary body, which would essentially "gather" all the services and several powers of the Municipalities.
It is also worth noting that the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, just a few days ago (5/11) released a budget of 30,000 euros for "the preparation of a policy document in relation to the review of the promoted Local Government Reform (TA) and its reduction number of free Municipalities from 30 to about 16, with a time horizon of implementation in January 2022 ", as mentioned in the relevant note of the Ministry of Interior.
Regarding the study of the Italian experts:
- one scenario wants Cyprus with 22 Municipalities (reduction by only 8 municipalities)
- and the second scenario envisages a reduction of Municipalities by 18, ie 12 Municipalities remain.
Finally around 14 Municipalities?
Taking into account the positions expressed from time to time by the political parties, with DIKO, Solidarity and EDEK calling for a "bolder" reform than the reduction of Municipalities to 22, as well as the long-standing position of DISY for "radical reform", It seems that the majority of the parliamentary parties are leaning towards a reform, which moves between the second scenario of the Italians (which speaks of 12 Municipalities) and the Government policy document that will speak of about 16 Municipalities. It is noted that AKEL, according to a recent position of the person in charge of T.A. of the party, has the position that "we categorically disagree with any methods aimed at reducing the local government, whose institution is facing a lot of problems due to the policies of the government of the Right."
Which Municipalities are merging with which:
Mild Scenario "1" - From 30 become 22 Municipalities
In the Mild Scenario (Scenario 1), the Municipalities are reduced by 8 and the total number in Cyprus is reduced from 30 to 22.
It is estimated that, based on this scenario, savings of 5% of the total operating costs of the Municipalities will be made.
The following mergers take place in the province of Famagusta:
- Municipality of Paralimni with Municipality of Deryneia
- Municipality of Ayia Napa with Municipality of Sotira
Scenario 2 - From 30 become 12 Municipalities
In Scenario 2, the Municipalities are reduced by 18 and the total number in Cyprus is reduced from 30 to 12.
It is estimated that, based on this scenario2, savings of 22% of the total operating costs of the Municipalities will be made.
The following mergers take place in the province of Famagusta:
The free area of the province of Famagusta, is not considered viable to have more than one municipality:
- All the Municipalities and the communities of the area are merged into one Municipality
Source: brief.com.cy