The Minister of Interior Socrates Hasikos and the General Secretary of AKEL Andros Kyprianou agreed that the goal of the Local Government Reform (TA) should be to upgrade the services offered today to the citizens by the Municipalities and Communities and to reduce their operating costs.
In statements after a meeting he had with an AKEL delegation, headed by Mr. Kyprianou, the Minister of Interior said that "we agree on the issues of principle. In other words, we agree ", as he explained," that we should find ways to have synergies between the Municipalities and the Communities so that we can achieve savings so that we can offer, at a lower cost, better services to the citizens ".
"We have before us some timetables in which we will have to work, to cooperate and not only with AKEL, but also with the other parties", he said and added that by June 2014 we must have finally reached a conclusion for the good of of our citizens, for the good of the Municipalities and the Communities, for the good of the place ".
For his part, the General Secretary of AKEL said that "we had a very constructive discussion and it seems that there are the conditions to reach an issue of principles between AKEL and the Government, to reach an agreement on the framework within which we should move." .
Mr. Kyprianou said that the common goal is to upgrade the services to the residents of the Municipalities and Communities, while reducing their operating costs, taking into account the current economic data of the place and the need for a tidy way to which is operated by Local Government organizations.
"We have discussed other issues that have to do with internal control, the need to transfer powers and responsibilities to local government, but also the transfer of necessary resources and I believe that we can reach an agreement," said Mr. Kyprianou .
He also said that "we have agreed with the Minister that the expert study is ready to be given to all political parties to study it and to contribute with our own proposals to the formulation of the proposals that will be submitted to the experts."
"We are ready - and I am glad because the Minister asks for it - to cooperate in order to contribute in the direction of putting things on the right footing", concluded the General Secretary of AKEL.
Source: CITIZEN