Next Monday, the parliamentary committee of the Interior will make a final decision on the issue of the Local Government reform. Final decisions will be taken on all open issues concerning both the emerging new municipalities and the community complexes.
This is the last session and therefore it will be completed if decisions are made on all outstanding issues. It is even estimated that within the month and specifically on Monday, December 20, the Plenary Session will convene to vote on the outstanding issues included in the bills and concerning: a) holding referendums, b) associations of local authorities c) number of councilors participating in the council, as well as election and responsibilities of deputy mayors, d e) establishment of a departmental committee, e) local complexes of community services, f) bill on provincial self-government organizations with suggestions of the Ministry of the Interior for the responsibilities of the general director.
Monday's debate will take place in the light of yesterday's letter from Interior Minister Nikos Nouris to the chairman and members of the parliamentary Home Affairs Committee. The Minister insists on the initial position of the Government in order to remain the 17 new municipalities and essentially disagrees with the cooking that was done to serve political and party expediencies during the debate in Parliament and led to an increase of 20 municipalities. On the other hand, the parties insist on the creation of 20 new municipalities and the recommendations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Minister of Interior, addressing the members of the Commission, points out "That it is necessary for each new entity to be distinguished by specific characteristics that are far removed from political and party criteria." He notes that it is not possible, after years of discussions and the presentation of a lot of studies and arguments, to submit proposals for the preservation of specific entities that are already blowing the whistle with their existing mode of operation, for their selective and unsubstantiated merger with Municipalities or Communities. they have nothing to offer them, just to reap political or partisan benefits.
"The submission of some suggestions by members of the Commission but also the unsubstantiated increase of the number of new entities from 17 provided in the Government Bill to 20 with the possibility of further increase, I believe will jeopardize the effort that we all made together and the viability of the Local Government itself ", supports Mr. Nouris.
The Government, he adds, continues to hold the view that our balanced proposal for the formation of a maximum of 17 new entities is under the circumstances the best, because it ensures with measurable criteria the viability of the new institution. "In addition, such a development ensures the smooth disbursement of funds provided by the Recovery and Resilience Fund. "I'm sure no one wants to and the majority will not allow this huge, joint effort to be jeopardized.", concludes Nikos Nouris.
The positions of the Minister of Interior on individual issues are expressed in a second letter that was also received yesterday by the Committee on Interior. Specifically, regarding the request of the parish of Agia Fylaxis (Municipality of Limassol) to be defined as a municipal district in the new Municipality of Limassol, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs disagrees.
He also records his disagreement with the requests of the Community Council of the community of Pachyammos, which belongs to the province of Nicosia, for its inclusion in a local service complex of the province of Paphos and the Community Council of the community of Xylofagos, which belongs to the province of Larnaca, for inclusion in the new Municipality of Ayia Napa which belongs to the province of Famagusta. The position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also negative for the suggestion regarding the case of Pachyammos, ie to remain in the province of Nicosia, but to belong to a complex of the province of Paphos.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided that the communities that do not have community councils should be included in Community Complexes, but without being represented in the councils of the complexes or in neighboring municipalities, without also being represented.
They play various scenarios in the province of Famagusta
For the province of Famagusta, various scenarios have been analyzed in the study: a) The creation of a municipality that will include the municipalities of Paralimni, Deryneia, Ayia Napa and Sotira. b) Subsequently, an additional scenario was requested to be investigated at a later time, with sections that were not included in the original order. This scenario includes the creation of the municipality of Kokkinochoria, with the unification of the other communities of the province of Famagusta, ie the communities of Avgoros, Liopetri, Frenaros, Acheritos and Achnas.
The conclusions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs note that the financial performance of the new scheme is overwhelmingly in favor of the creation of a municipality that will include Paralimni, Deryneia, Ayia Napa, Sotira. At the same time, it is emphasized that with the creation of a purely rural municipality, the municipality of Kokkinochoria, the conditions for balanced development of rural Famagusta will be created with obvious benefits to the citizen due to the transformation of the area into a demarcated one.
Merger scenarios in Larnaca and Limassol
Following the discussion in the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs on 29/11/2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the expert Dr. Charalambos Koutalakis, his positions on the basis of the study, which he had conducted in 2019, regarding proposed scenarios of mergers submitted by the Commission and were not included in the bills submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This study concerns, among others, the Municipality of Lefkara where in the initial techno-economic study of the mergers it was proposed to create an enlarged municipality of Lefkara which would include the six neighboring communities of Vavla, Delikipou, Kato Dry, Kato Lefkara, Kornos and Kofinou. However, the addition of three additional communities (Agios Theodoros, Lagia and Skarinou), as the new proposal of the Commission, notes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "will also have significant administrative challenges, related to the operation of a municipality with a total of 10 municipal districts".
The suggestion for the second municipality of Larnaca province is as it arises from the merger of the existing Municipality of Dromolaxia - Meneou with the Communities of Kiti, Pervolia, and Tersefanos. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, without the integration of the communities of Kiti and Tersefanos and with the addition of only the Community of Pervolia, the new municipality of Dromolaxia - Meneou will not be able to meet the necessary conditions for economic viability.
The initial proposal for the municipality of West Limassol was to create a group focusing on Municipality of Ypsonas and its neighboring communities, ie Asomatos, Sotiras, Erimi, Kolossi, Trachonios and Akrotiri, Episkopi, Kantou. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out that the non-inclusion of the Communities of Cape, Colossus and Diocese will not bring the desired results.
In the alternative scenarios it is noted that in the case of non-inclusion of communities (Akrotiri, Kolossi and Episkopi), on the one hand their integration into a complex of communities and on the other hand the unification of the Municipality of Ypsonas with the Municipality of Ano and Kato Polemidia is favored.
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