PASOK… is training in extroversion and is planning the initiatives that will signal the exhortation of Nikos Androulakis to all party officials “to be everywhere”, from the local organizations to the parliament, with resounding interventions. Harilaou Trikoupi is trying to become an attractive political pole for those who until now stayed away from or had turned to ND and also SYRIZA and in the first phase to make the citizens listen to his proposals. This was also the issue at the second meeting of the 9-member Coordinating Political Center led by Nikos Androulakis, on the afternoon of Thursday, October 31, 2024. There, leading executives of Charilaou Trikoupi unfolded the plan for initiatives to reconnect PASOK with productive and social forces throughout the country.
In this context, it was planned to start from January 2025 regional congresses with flexibility throughout Greece – so that the proposals on major economic and social issues reach as many citizens as possible – on the way to the PASOK congress in May 2025. In the meantime, between now and December 2024, executive trips will take place throughout the country. At the meeting of the Coordinating Political Center there was a discussion about the claims of the municipalities, focusing on the three-day Regular Annual Conference of the KEDE that starts in Rhodes on November 7. The mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, gave detailed information about the Local Government regarding financial and institutional issues. A common place for the majority of municipalities is the concern for the visible risk of financial impasse and the intense dissatisfaction of the elected officials, as vital requests of the municipalities are not being met by the ND government.
At the same time, preparatory work was done for the persons who will assume duties in the party’s sectors and for the staffing of the Program Committee, while the possibilities of better communication between the Euro-parliamentary and the Parliamentary Group were developed.
It is no coincidence that in addition to its members, the head of the Eurogroup of PASOK, Yiannis Maniatis, and the Coordinator of the Program Group, Lefteris Karchimakis, participated in the meeting of the Coordinating Political Center. Lefteris Karchimakis, who has done an analysis by sector for the programmatic content, was the first speaker for the programmatic issues, while for the mode of operation and the actions of the representatives of PASOK in the European Parliament (Nikos Papandreou, Sakis Arnautoglou, G. Maniatis) Yiannis Maniatis was appointed .
The meeting of the Coordinating Politician did not take part, and this time, from among its members, the member of parliament for A’Athens and parliamentary representative of PASOK, Pavlos Geroulanos, who had not attended the opening meeting of the body due to health reasons. All the members of the leading, albeit informal, collective body (Anna Diamantopoulou, Haris Doukas, Milena Apostolakis, Nikos Christodoulakis, Thanasis Glavinas, Myrto Samaras, Katerina Solomou, Yiannis Vardakastanis) are organizing their next moves with the aim of PASOK gaining a significant and leading role on the central political stage.
In this effort, Anna Diamantopoulou, who is responsible for PASOK’s political planning, works with positions that are not far from liberal models of applied politics and with the ambition to pull PASOK further to the right. In fact, she will be the keynote speaker at an event organized for November 4 by the PASOK insocial Institute, headed by Nikos Christodoulakis, former minister and professor at the Athens University of Economics. The theme of the event is Mario Draghi’s report combined with the development perspective in Greece and the EU.
Self-Government is at the center
PASOK’s leaders know that it is not only the regional congresses that contribute to reaching the party’s agenda and proposals to the world. A critical link for the activation of social forces is the contact with representatives of the municipalities and with the bodies of the local societies. Thus, it was of particular importance that the mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, during the meeting of the Coordinating Political Center, gave detailed information on the Local Self-Government in terms of financial and institutional issues. A common place for the majority of municipalities is the concern for the visible risk of financial impasse and the intense dissatisfaction of the elected officials, as vital requests of the municipalities are not being met by the ND government.
According to information from the staff of Haris Doukas, the municipalities come with unanimous decisions to the KEDE conference, both for the finances and for the institutional issues of the Local Self-Government. The situation is outlined as follows:
I. FINANCIAL
· During the economic crisis, the revenues of the Central Autonomous Resources (KAP) decreased by approximately 60%, a decrease that has been maintained until today.
· The gradual transfer of responsibilities to the municipalities (kindergartens, sports centers, etc.) was not accompanied by the transfer of the necessary resources, which created a gradual burden on the municipalities’ finances.
· Approximately 40% of municipalities (according to KEDE data) will not be able to close a budget at the end of the year.
· The balance of the local authorities is estimated to be a deficit of 250 million euros (KEDE data).
· Co-financed projects from European funds, amounting to 130 million euros, have been “frozen” for months because the payment of the funds has not been approved.
· In 2024, the municipalities were burdened with 240 million euros for the retroactive payment of the waste burial fee.
· The CAPs of 2024 did not cover the additional salary costs (about 30 million euros) from the salary and allowance increases in the public sector from 1.1.2024, nor the excess energy costs of the municipalities, their legal entities and the DEYAs.
· In 2024, according to the application of Law 3852/10 (which regulates the Local Government CAP), 7.961 billion euros should be allocated to the municipalities, the actual disbursement (based on the report of the WHO) is 2.224 billion euros .
· While in the year 2024 the primary result of the General Government was predicted to be a surplus of 4,991 million euros or 2.1% of GDP, the municipalities are absent from additional funding.
· With a unanimous decision of the KEDE, an emergency grant was requested for 2024, three installments of CAP (435 million euros), 100 million euros were given, the Minister of the Interior, Th. Livanios promised that around 150 million euros will be given.
· In the 2025 budget, the CAP increases by 53 million euros, i.e. 2.277 billion euros, against 8.315 billion euros, provided for by Law 3859.
· For the year 2025, the local government deficit is predicted to be 267 million euros.
The municipalities request:
· Withheld revenue from non-application of existing legislation.
The reinstatement of fees that were removed from municipalities (reinstatement of the reimbursable tax on petroleum products to municipalities, the vagrant tax to 2% (from 0.5%), the beer tax, natural gas network connection fees)
· The performance of three (3) additional extraordinary installments in the CAP of 2024.
· The return to the municipalities of the funds withheld from the CAP for the waste burial fee (240 million euros).
· The return to the municipalities of the revenues from the resilience fee in the climate crisis.
II. RECRUITMENTS
For 14 years now, the hiring of permanent staff in the municipalities has remained frozen. By the most conservative calculations, the municipalities have lost 20% of their human resources (withdrawals, retirements).
The municipalities request:
· Unfreeze recruitment.
· Address the issue of long-term contract workers.
· To abolish the Voridis provision, according to which all elected officials are at risk of legal adventures, when they try to defend their employees.
· To continue without interruption, from this year, the completely successful program of subsidized employment in local authorities, for people over the age of 55.
III. THE NEW LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE
After 20 years, the Local Government Code is reformed. This is the most critical institutional intervention for the institution in recent years. The degree of decentralization will be reviewed and defined, responsibilities and resources will be redistributed, the functioning of the Self-Government bodies (both levels), as well as the electoral system, for which the Minister of the Interior predicted that no significant changes will be made.
The municipalities request that the new Self-Government Charter implement “a real reform, with the municipalities at the center of the country’s new governance system, and that there be a convergence of the Greek Local Self-Government to the European model of Cities and Regions”.
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