Filenews 11 April 2025 - by Vasos Vassiliou
The government's sponsorship for municipalities needs to increase from €117 million to approximately €180million in the first phase if local authorities are to offer citizens services that will improve their daily lives.
The above results in broad outlines from the views expressed during a joint press conference of the Union of Municipalities and the EDCs. The president of the Union of Municipalities, Andreas Vyras, avoided mentioning what percentage of the state budget would be sufficient for the municipalities to operate sustainably. He said, however, that in Greece Local Government is strengthened by a percentage of about 2.5%-3%, while in Cyprus the government has a percentage of 1.06%. I will not talk about Denmark, which has a percentage of 30%, said Mr. Byras.
We are the worst country in the EU in terms of state sponsorship, Mr. Byras pointed out, adding that a dialogue will be sought with the government regarding the strengthening of Local Government and if it does not bear fruit, then other ways of more dynamic reaction will be examined.
As he explained, just from the expansion of the responsibilities of the Municipalities, the operating costs increased by €25 million. He also noted that 63 communities have been integrated into the 20 new municipalities, which also has a cost due to the deficiencies in their infrastructure, etc.
The President of the EDA of Nicosia, Mr. Konstantinos Yiorkadzis, speaking on behalf of all the EDAs, said that among the positives that emerged from the reform include:
- The reduction of the cost of remuneration of the boards of directors: e.g. the members of the boards of directors of the SLBs and LSDPs in Nicosia were 60, while today they were limited to 17 members of the Board of Directors of the EDA
- The consolidation of services by merging the provincial LSDBs and WDBs upgrades the management of critical infrastructures such as water supply, sewerage and rainwater networks
- The merger of 46 licensing authorities into only 5, with the aim of allowing them to operate with a uniform mentality and uniform interpretation of the provisions of the legislation, which makes it much easier for researchers.
Regarding the operation of the licensing system, Hippodamos said that it has been improved, but "unfortunately, it will never be able to be transformed into a modern tool".
In order to further reduce the processing times of applications, the president of the EDA said that it is imperative:
(a) The integration of State services into the Hippodamian so that consultations between them and the EDCs are now done electronically, e.g. Department of the Environment
(b) To consolidate the licensing of listed buildings. Today, the urban planning certificates of the listed buildings are issued by the TPO and the building certificates by the NOAs, something that Mr. Yiorkadzis described as paradoxical.
(c) To complete the staffing of the lending departments, which was delayed.
He also advocated the amendment of the legislative framework for the management of dangerous buildings: to include our suggestions for additional tools and funding. The passage of the bill in May is anxiously awaited.
He further mentioned that the greatest weakness or the most important outstanding issue that should concern us concerns the lack of independence, both administrative and financial, of local authorities and NEAs.
He also advocated the need for legislative amendments, including the release of the EDCs from the obligation to approve their budgets by the Parliament, as well as the possibility of the Ministry of Finance to revise the structure, salary scales or even the number of staff of the organizations.
