Filenews 17 January 2023
With the aim of a smooth transition to the new framework of operation of Local Government, as will result from the reform that has been voted, the training program for elected officials and staff of Local Authorities begins.
The launch of the project "Provision of supportive measures - Strengthening the Reform of Local Government in Cyprus", was announced today by the Minister of Interior Nikos Nouris at an event at the Press and Information Office.
The project, the implementation of which has a duration of 30 months from January 2023 to June 2025, has a total budget of €840,000 and is included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Cyprus.
The contractor for the project is the Council of Europe, which has extensive expertise in local government issues and especially in reforms in this area. Partners of the Council of Europe, based on the voluntary contribution agreement signed with the Republic of Cyprus for this purpose, are the Ministry of Interior as well as the Associations of Municipalities and Communities.
In his address to the event, Mr. Nouris said that with the use of the special educational tools available to the Council, as well as the wide network of collaborators with expertise on local government reform issues, "we are proceeding with the training of elected officials and other executives in Local Government by transferring to them expertise and applied practices that have already been adopted by other member states".
The aim of the Ministry of Interior and its partners, as noted by Mr. Nouris, is the transition to the new self-governing form in the smoothest way while providing the appropriate guarantees to give more efficient and higher quality services to citizens.
Mr. Nouris stressed that this huge reform that the Government persistently claimed and achieved its adoption, will change the map of Local Government in Cyprus.
As he said, in the elections of May 2024, citizens will elect the Mayors and Community Leaders of the new entities, which will certainly be enriched in population, with increased responsibilities in a number of issues, administratively and financially autonomous, in the standards of the European Charter of Local Government, with enhanced internal control and transparency mechanisms, increased responsibilities and greater ability of the citizen to participate in decision-making.
He said that the great beneficiary of this transition will be the citizen and the inhabitant of the countryside because he will be able to enjoy quality services at the lowest possible cost. Especially in the communities, he noted, the creation of the Service Provision Complexes, gives the opportunity to strengthen the new structures with the necessary staff to provide upgraded services in the countryside, taking advantage of the economies of scale that will normally arise.
The Minister of Interior said that this planning was not made today but is a product of the implementation of the National Strategy for Training and Capacity Strengthening of Local Government in Cyprus, which was formulated since 2018 with the valuable contribution of the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe and was adopted by the Ministry of Interior.
Mr. Nouris thanked Alina Tatarenko, Head of the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe, the Presidents of the Unions of Cyprus Municipalities, his associates at the Ministry and the representatives of the Cyprus Academy of Public Administration.
He expressed the certainty that the final result will be the desired one and that with the completion of the second term of President Anastasiades and his Government, another of the most important goals that had been set is being implemented: "To change in favour of the citizens the map of Local Government in our country", he concluded.
