Filenews 2 July 2023 - by Athos Germanou
The negative outcome of the reform of Local Government (TA), which lately is becoming more and more likely week by week, is due to the fact that those who were responsible for passing new legislation, the Government, Parties and Representatives of the Local Government, chose the wrong direction and approach.
The primary and essential in the case of Cypriot self-government was:
(a) The removal of fragmentation and fragmentation of urban, passing and rural areas, and at the same time
(b) The overthrow of the small sizes of the primary Self-Governing Units and the creation of as large and uniform sizes as possible of new functional municipalities.
It is truly astonishing that the countryside is supposed to be reformed, especially the mountain areas, which should have been the first priority where substantial upgrading is needed, are not being affected by any substantial changes.
In order to achieve the above, the dual objective of reform, the only solution was, de facto, the one we already proposed at the initial stage of discussions, namely to have only a small number of municipalities in Cyprus and our specific proposal was for only nine (9) regional municipalities, which would lead to real economies of scale, and certainly not the 60 or so Local Authorities (municipalities and community complexes) and the new level of provincial organizations in the new legislation that will not help the Local Government and by extension the citizens and do not constitute a substantial breakthrough in Self-Government but rather a regulation, if not deregulation.
What kind of reform is this that was voted and is being promoted on the basis of the new legislation when 2/3 of all municipalities that will operate will have a population below 35,000 and half of them, ie 1/3 of all municipalities will have a population below 20,000, since based on the current system we have, such sizes, aren't these confirmed problematic and failed?
As far as our proposal for nine regional municipalities alone is concerned, this would mean one municipality in the urban and peri-urban area of Nicosia with a population of 250,000, one in Limassol with about 200,000, one in Larnaka with about 100,000, one in Paphos with about 70,000 and one in free Famagusta with about 40,000 while in the remaining parts of the four Nicosia districts, In Limassol, Larnaka and Paphos we would have four other large provincial/rural municipalities with an average population of around 40,000.
The new legislation does not suffer only in terms of the number and type of Local Authorities. It suffers equally in terms of its content, which turned out to be a mixture of governmental, partisan and even personal purposes, but not a Reform for a substantial and real improvement in the quality of life of citizens. Indicatively, we mention the fact that the School Boards remained outside the competences of the Municipalities, while for the licensing of developments, what will be done according to the new legislation is not related to strengthening the institutional framework of the Municipalities, but rather weakening it.
Without underestimating the importance of parameters other than size, we point out that only if we have local authorities of sufficient size, such as those we proposed, will we be able to have strong self-government, because in this case large local authorities could impose to be accompanied and supported by much greater financial , administrative and political Independence and Autonomy, compared to the current situation, for the benefit of citizens, which is the ultimate goal.
Based on the above, we believe that the Government, the parties and the officials of the local authorities should have put aside petty interests and expediencies, at governmental, local, party and personal level, and worked to promote a real Reform of Cypriot Self-Government for the entire territory of free Cyprus, which would lead to strong regional municipalities, so that they can offer in all areas of Cyprus the range and level of services enjoyed by citizens of advanced European countries.
Instead of the above approach and in addition to the very wrong choice of sizes, the continuation of fragmentation and important responsibilities such as school boards and development licensing, there have been two more huge mistakes in the new legislation that will eventually lead to friction and complete disorganization/deregulation compared to the current system.
The first concerns the institution of elected deputy mayors in the new municipalities and the second concerns the elected presidents of provincial organizations. This is because the duality of elected representatives in a territorial area always leads to frictions and conflicts due to differences of perception on issues of powers, competences and status. Indicative of this situation is the fact that in the free area of Famagusta the Local Authorities belonging to the District Organization cannot even meet, for the purpose of preparing the implementation of the new legislation, even in the presence of the Minister of Interior. Imagine what will happen after the new legislation comes into effect...
It should also be noted that the creation of strong new Municipalities, such as the ones we proposed, would substantially help in better control of central power, since they could be additional checks and balances against arbitrary central administration, a need that our country certainly needs.
Think about changes instead of starting blame game
Therefore, instead of Parliament, Government and representatives of the T.A. loudly declaring that they will not differentiate the "architecture" of the new legislation, it would be better to start thinking about the substantial and necessary changes that need to be made so that it acquires a real architecture and not to be left with the pseudo-architecture that is the correct characterization for the framework of the new legislation that was voted and very soon it will Applied. And this should be done sooner, instead of each actor already preparing to shift the blame for failure elsewhere, as happens in all similar cases of failure in our country.
*Former secretary of the Union of Municipalities.
athosgermanos@gmail.com
