The reform of the local self-government and the developments in the Cyprus issue were discussed in an informal meeting that they had today, the Minister of Interior Socrates Hasikos and the Mayor of Famagusta and President of the Union of Municipalities Alexis Galanos.
"We agree that it must move forward, although the timetables have changed," the interior minister said on the issue of local government reform, following a meeting with Mr Galanos.
He added that the Parliament requested from the Ministry the regulations until March and "we take the responsibility to have gone to the Parliament, so that there is absolutely nothing that hinders the voting of the reform, by the Parliament".
Mr. Hasikos noted that almost all the budgets of the Municipalities are balanced, adding that the issue is what services the Municipalities provide in return for this money.
"Because if the effort is cuts, so that we have balanced budgets, at the expense of the services that the Municipalities are called to give to the citizen, then, of course, we have failed," he noted.
He pointed out that this is another reason why the local government reform should proceed, so that we can reach levels where the municipal councils will offer upgraded services, at the lowest possible cost.
The Mayor of Famagusta and President of the Union of Municipalities, for his part, noted that the timeframes for the reform of local self-government have been postponed and now the Parliament has enough time to carefully process the submitted bills.
"We hope that it will proceed rapidly, because although the time frame may have changed, we insist - the Ministry itself, I am sure - that measures should be taken to improve the system of local government, to proceed with clustering "to reduce costs and increase service to the citizen," he said.
"Yes, the mayors were elected, the municipal councils for the next five years, but this does not mean that the whole issue should be referred to the Greek calendars, and the Parliament should proceed at a fast pace," he added.
We are committed, said Mr. Galanos, "in order to have a real reform in the local self-government, as, at least, we started it with the Ministry".
Mr. Galanos stated that they exchanged views with Mr. Hasikos on the national issue and issues concerning Famagusta.
"What concerns us more than anything else is the course of our national issue and the developments, which developments, when they come, and we hope to move forward, then some other things that we are discussing now may take another form," he said. .
Source: KYPE