Intense behind-the-scenes consultations have recently prevailed in the Government and parliamentary parties, so that the reform of the local self-government can proceed without any other obstacles.
For some time now, due to the turn taken by the discussions in the Committee on Home Affairs to almost… overturn the proposed reform of the Ministry of Interior, since the Municipalities instead of decreasing, they increased resulting in reaching 5 in the proposal of the British experts in 2014, at 14 with the study of Dr. Charalambos Koutalakis, at 17 in the final presentation of the proposal by the former Minister of Interior Konstantinos Petridis, at 20 or even 21, due to the intense mobility of the parties in their effort to maintain adjacent party entities.
"At the same time, local consultations with various local authorities in almost all provinces have largely evolved to react to the bill proposed by the Ministry of Interior and to impose through their announcements different scenarios in order to maintain their entities or…" kingdoms ”, with the result that the purpose of the reform is being eroded.
"Cut" the number of Municipalities - Converge to five…
In recent days, both the current and former Interior Ministers have reportedly stepped up their efforts to convince the parties of the meaning and purpose of the reform on the basis of financial savings and to set aside party interests and local services. in order not to circumvent the reform, after the intense criticism from the citizens who strongly and categorically accuse the political parties of jeopardizing another reform in order to serve partisan interests.
His memoir is really useful now @OMichaelides for reform. I imagine you will also take into account the views of the EVs for REDUCTION of the number of Municipalities & that the number you propose is excessive, due to party balances. I totally agree with him https://t.co/n37bATiEXg
- ConstantinosPetrides (@Petrides_C) November 28, 2021
"In the dance" of the last minute processes and the strong criticism exercised by the Auditor General Odysseas Michailidis for the increase instead of the reduction of the number of local authorities.
We fully support the reform of local government.
The bill as it is formulated is in the right direction.
However, it is our suggestion to consider the further reduction in the number of municipalities / departments and to strengthen the synergies of the common services.- AUDIT OFFICE OF CYPRUS (@Audit_Office_Cy) November 27, 2021
Therefore, the scenario for five Municipalities all over Cyprus, a metropolitan Municipality, that is, in each province, seems to be returning to the table, a scenario which was proposed during the term of the blessed Socrates Hasikos and seems to be slowly gaining ground from the parties, and to be adopted, according to the information, by Democratic Alarm, DIKO and DIPA as well as EDEK, which in the previous days expressed their reservations about the way the discussions took.
In this direction was yesterday the post of the General Secretary of DIKO, Athos Antoniadis, who after giving as an example the municipalities of New York, London and Athens and wondered if, "the reduction of Municipalities from 30 to 21 is substantial reform or shifting the problem of sustainability and mediocre services to the next decade?
Personal reflection
New York 9,000,000 5 boroughs
London 9,500,000 25 wards
Athens 700,000 6 regions
Is the reduction of Municipalities 30 to 21 a substantial reform or a transfer of a problem to the next 10 years?
Does Cyprus 1,000,000 really need more than 5 municipalities?- Athos Antoniades (@AthosAntoniades) December 4, 2021
The British proposal for five municipalities throughout Cyprus
The proposal for five Municipalities was put on the table as early as 2014 by the study of the expert group from the National School of Government International (NSGI) which consisted of British officials from NSGI, the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as by the Lewes Regional Council on behalf of the Home Office.
In the study, British experts propose the creation of five Municipalities, one for each province, or even the creation of 10-15 new Local Authorities, which would mean between 56.000-84.000 population on average population for each local authority.
In both cases, experts recommend merging all nine local authorities of Famagusta province into a a Municipality with a population of around 46.500 inhabitants.
Tomorrow is crucial
Tomorrow is expected to decide a lot as it is at 9:30 in the morning the last meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs is scheduled, which will be open, with the members being invited, according to the schedule, to conclude the debate, to close the issues that remain pending and send the three Bills for a vote in Plenary, which will be invited to vote on them in a special session on December 20.
Famagusta.News