Filenews 21 December 2021 - by Vassos Vassiliou
At a time when everyone is stressing the need to approve the reform of Local Government, the process seems to be snaggish once again, something for which the member of parliament of AKEL and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the Interior Aristos Damianou directly blames DISY.
Mr. Damianou says that while the other parties submitted (yesterday Monday) amendments on the pending bills and at the same time that the President of the Republic and the Minister of Interior were calling the Parliament from the floor of the General Assembly of the Union of Municipalities to proceed with the approval of the bills, DISY refused for the second time to submit amendments, as agreed, thus dynamizing the whole effort again. Mr. Damianou also argues that "the internal party power games in DISY are trying to block the reform".
The spokesman of DISY, Dimitris Demetriou, invited by "F" to comment on the reports of Mr. Damianos, said that a letter was sent asking to clarify whether the bill includes 17 municipalities as suggested by the Government or 20 proposed by AKEL, so that DISY can take a position. The party has the right to table amendments before the plenum as well, suggested Mr. Demetriou, who also made reference to 'cooking' to increase the number of municipalities. Moreover, the MP of the same party, Nikos Sykas, told "F", that DISY supports the government's proposal for 17 municipalities. This is our amendment to the proposal for 20 municipalities, he added.
Previously, the President of the Republic in his address to the General Assembly of the Union of Municipalities made "a request to the political forces to escape from the kingdoms", because "we cannot afford" each party to seek "to keep local kingdoms". What matters, he stressed, "is how to empower municipalities when they have financial and administrative autonomy. That's what people are asking for."
The Minister of Interior, Nikos Nouris, referred to the studies of experts on the number of new municipalities and added that it is not possible to submit recommendations for selective and unsuppressed union with municipalities and communities that have nothing to offer them, simply to reap temporary political or party benefits.
The president of the Union of Municipalities, Andreas Vyras, stressed that the reform of local self-government must be implemented, adding that the postponement of the elections, the absolute democratic expression of the people, is unacceptable to go to waste thanks to an endless debate. "The reform of local government is above all an investment in democracy, in our country and its people", concluded Mr. Vyras.
