What is needed is the spirit of competitiveness that will be shown by the local government of the first level of Greece, at the upcoming conference of the Union of Central Municipalities of Greece in Rhodes and also at the pre-conference conferences talk that started today from Ioannina, as the problems of the Municipalities are very big but from the point of view of the government so far it seems that there is an intention to deal strongly and at least partially solve the issues of underfunding and shortage workers.
In the first pre-conference conference of Ioannina, which hosted from Thursday morning, autonomous officials from the Regions of Epirus and Western Macedonia, in the opening process of greetings, the known problems and the framework of the applications was raised. for a long time by the Municipalities, but not answered effectively by the central state.
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The process of the pre-conference conference was opened by the host of the event, the Mayor of Ioannina Thomas Begas. Mr. Begas identified the pre-conference as a good opportunity to exchange ideas, suggestions and good practices to find solutions to what the Local Government is facing. Each City has its own challenges and needs and through cooperation and mutual support they try to move forward. “Our ability to meet these needs is undermined by the unwillingness to decentralize from the state. I would like to say that the state has never loved self-government as much as it should,” stressed Mr. Begas. “The Union of Central Greek Cities (KEDE) must take dynamic action to meet demands of the towns to express, because the problems facing the Local Government have reached a critical level,” he said, sending a message to the Kyrizoglou administration and reserved more criticism. , in the speech he will make later in the day as a representative of the group “Autonomy now” of KEDE.
The Regional Governor of Epirus, Alexandros Kahrimanis, for his part confirmed that the Self-Government must have resources and means to exist and be useful to society. Many times the Central administration does not understand why there is a Local Government, it is there to solve issues and be closer to the citizen, he noted and confirmed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should -instant clarification of who does what. The criterion of the area should solve the problem of shortage of workers as he said.
The reception process was closed by Maria Kefala who represented the government. He said, that the situation is special and the place that is requested of the Local Government, that it is clear to the government of Mitsotakis and to the Prime Minister himself that all the ministries are capable here to give answers. The two pieces of legislation, especially the comprehensive Local Government Code, which is expected to be approved before the end of the year, go towards this.
The speeches of the three presidents
This was followed by the speeches of the leaders of PED Epirus and West Macedonia and the presentation of the president of KEDE.
Panagiotis Dais, president of PED Epirus, explained three main issues of the Municipalities: the financial problems including energy costs and the issue of workers. He then raised the specific problems and demands of Epirus, referring to the road infrastructures that need improvement such as the interregional connection between Epirus with the Regions of Thessaly and Central Greece through the Arta mountain, which immediately began to build the Yannena-. Kakavia road, the completion of the study for the Igoumenitsa-Mavromatio connection and the development of the Igoumenitsa-Preveza road, the Epirus railway connection, etc. mountain towns and completion of urban and spatial planning. Finally, as the Mayor of Igoumenitsa, he made it known that he is in collaboration with the other Cities that have ports operating within the borders, that he is talking about preparing a proposal to KEDE for special funding for projects in cities with ports.
The President of PED West Macedonia, Panagiotis Kepaptsoglou, complained that the Local Self-Government always pulls the snake out of the hole, as it happened with the pandemic. In addition to the general issues, Mr. Kepaptsoglou mentioned the survival problems in Western Macedonia, and he said, that an essential phase is going on: the previous model of the development of fur industry activity and lignite activity which made the area an energy. pillars for years have been unstable. On the one hand, lignite is being frozen today by moderate political decisions, and on the other hand, with the war in Russia, the fur-making activity has now stopped and is almost non-existent. At the same time the unregulated development of RES comes, as he said, without consultation with local communities.
Lazaros Kyrizoglou, the president of the Union of Central Cities of Greece, began his detailed speech by referring to the big issue to come, which is the new charter of the obligations of the cities, or the Code New cities currently being drawn. up
He spoke about the main problems facing the Cities, especially under-funding and lack of staff, and he mentioned the recent meeting of KEDE with the Prime Minister and 7 ministers.
He briefly mentioned the following:
- For the case of financial towns, an immediate payment of 450 million euros beyond the 12 monthly installments of the CAP, the return of the funeral tax and the repeal of the article of the 2022 law that ends the funding of local governments, as a result then instead of the 1.740 billion received today, the Local Self-Government should receive more than 6 billion.
- Regarding the school infrastructure, he expressed his satisfaction with the announcement of the school maintenance program by the government with 250 million euros in the framework of the “Marietta Giannakou” program which, he said, should act through and in collaboration with the Municipalities.
- It is requested that the suspension of recruitment in the OTAs be lifted, because for several years the employees of the villages have been reduced by several thousand. It is expected that the news about the City Police staff will be completed with the recruitment of 1000 people soon.
- It is requested that the work program for people + 55-year-olds and the establishment of a scoring bonus for recruitment in the municipal areas continue.
- For water management, KEDE’s proposal for the integration of DEYAs is on the table after the Ministry of Environment was convinced that the original version had to be changed and that the new DEYAs should be just in terms of administration to the first level Self- government. and not in the Middle State. “Day by day we are waiting to see the draft law because otherwise there will be no discussion,” said the president of KEDE, adding that additional funding from DEYA with 250 million euros is expected as it was promised by the Minister of Energy.
- In terms of energy, KEDE’s position is constant that it must give priority to Cities with energy communities and it is impossible not to have a place for this generated electricity in the network.
- In consultation with the state, the administrative reform within the constitution will proceed immediately, for better performance of duties for the benefit of local communities, KEDE calls for a multilateral decentralization plan and a modern institutional framework without overlapping duties and responsibilities that become an alibi for. the errors and omissions of the towns. “We are not afraid of responsibility, on the other hand we want responsibility and to be effective for what we do and do not do, but at the same time we also want the resources and methods that required to fulfill our obligations. What we don’t want is to be responsible for other people’s obligations and omissions,” he said wisely, referring to the fires.
In conclusion, Mr. Kyrizoglou admitted that there are no thermometers of love for the Local Government from the central state and stressed that “with a methodical pace, stability, persistence and fighting spirit we fight every day for our n -fair and reasonable requests”.
