IN 2024 HE DID A FOOTBALL WITH BAD MANDATES
Al. Fundamental
He did a bad job for Epirus in 2024 as a few hours before saying goodbye to us the previous year, the decision of the Deputy Minister of Development M. Senetakis to withdraw from the Recovery Fund of the High Technology and Research Park of Epirus became known.
A decision which has been posted in Diaugia since December 5, 2023, without however being made known by the directly interested party, i.e. the Region of Epirus.
In statements made by the regional governor, Alexandros Kahrimanis, after the news of the disengagement, he claimed that he learned about it from the media.
The history of opt-out
On December 5, the decision of the deputy of Development on the subject: “Rejection of the proposal submitted for financing by Development Continent S.A. under the title “HIGH TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH PARK OF EPIRUS”, in the Action “Creation – Expansion – Upgrading of the Infrastructures of the Research Centers of the GEK supervision” [ID 16624 Project title: Creation – Expansion – Upgrading of the Infrastructures of research centers supervised by the General Secretariat for Research and Innovation (GSRI)] with OPS TA (MIS) code 5161770 in the “National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0”.
The Deputy Minister decides in the specific document: “The rejection of the financing proposal of “Development Continent S.A. – Development Organization of Local Government” entitled “HIGH TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH PARK OF EPIRO” in the framework of the Action “Creation – Expansion – Upgrading of the Infrastructure of the Research Centers under the supervision of GEK” in the “National Recovery and Resilience Plan Greece 2.0″, given that according to above sub no. 30 Document the supporting documents mentioned in it were not submitted”.
The number 30 related to the above document is “The with no. prot. 62968/12-07-2023 Document of the General Secretary of Research and Innovation for “Ensuring Private Participation of the project entitled “HIGH TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH PARK OF EPIRUS” of the Recovery and Resilience Fund”. So the bell has been ringing since last July for the project and it didn’t ring a “bell” until the recent general assembly of ENPE in Ioannina at the end of January, when the Minister of Economy N. Papathanasis clearly stated that there is no room in the Recovery Fund for non-integrated projects… It was then that Al broke out. Kahrimanis and he probably had a point.
In a few words, the main reason that led to the rejection of the financing, i.e. the exclusion of the project from the Recovery Fund, is related to the inability of the Region of Epirus and the Development “Epiros” to secure private participation, i.e. lending.
The reactions
After the news was published, Mr. Kahrimanis reacted twice.
Initially through his personal Facebook page and in the new year with his statements to the local media.
The post of Mr. Kahrimanis on Facebook is as follows:
“The High Research and Technology Park was and is an emblematic project for Ioannina and Epirus. In a Region that is looking for investments and jobs, it should not only be welcome, but also have support from local and central agencies in order to implement it as quickly as possible. And if some do not want or are unable to support the effort undertaken by the Region of Epirus, at least they should not make excuses so that its financing through the Recovery Fund does not proceed (as was agreed with the previous political leadership of the Ministry of Development) , just because they think that in this way they will hurt the Regional Governor and the Regional Authority, putting the interest and benefit of the local community and young people looking for a job in second place.
In this light, the decision to withdraw from the Recovery Fund, about which we were informed today by a publication, is unacceptable to us. It was received by the Deputy Minister of Development without any information, much less our opinion was not asked for any further clarifications on our proposal, if deemed necessary by the Ministry’s services, who knew that the discussions with the European Investment Bank were at an advanced stage and explanations are required whether and by whose order they “froze”.
The competent Minister of Development should also have known that the specific project has been announced as an emblematic project repeatedly by his political superior, the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and is also included in the government program for Epirus
We are not going to lay down our “arms”. As I stated yesterday, without considering the decision to withdraw, we continue our efforts to implement the project, we are close to an agreement with banks to cover the financing needed by the Region and from there, let them take their responsibilities those who caused the disturbance, exposing the Prime Minister himself, who must also provide the final solution”.
The statements
In his statements on New Year’s morning, during the reception to welcome the new year and at the beginning of his fourth term in Epirus Region, Mr. Kahrimanis was asked and answered as follows: “I don’t want to talk about this issue today but I believe that in the end we will succeed because I have also discussed several times with the Prime Minister, it was an action that was not made known to us, in fact I had informed the Ministry and the Minister that on October 30 the German companies were here and I had a response that they are positive , I had assured that we would finish by the end of the year. It seems that some people didn’t believe in what we started and I think they were wrong… I didn’t know that some people didn’t want the project, because when the leader wants it, the leader is present, all principles stop, I know”…
Insert
The Prime Minister canceled Zagori
The Prime Minister and his family will finally spend the January mini-holiday in his native Crete. There he will also celebrate the Epiphany, as reported by the Athenian media.
As the reports state, the visit to Aristi was canceled due to the weather conditions in the area!
Of course, the weather does not present any … anomaly and the forecast for the next few days does not concern strong phenomena.
However, it is possible that the developments with the High Research and Technology Park are the ones that do not create the best conditions for Mr. Mitsotakis’ visit to the region.
After all, he himself had committed himself to this project, but it seems that this commitment cannot be kept, at least not in the immediate future.
