It is with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to attend and welcome once again the Annual General Assembly of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities, which is taking place at a particularly critical juncture in terms of the major issue of Local Government Reform, which has been a major issue for more than ten years.
Before any further reference, allow me to stress that my presence at this year's Assembly, as in previous ones, is an indication of the sincere appreciation and continued interest of both my Government and myself personally in the multi-dimensional work you are carrying out for the benefit of local communities.
This General Assembly coincides with the conclusion today of the deliberations in the relevant Home Affairs Committee in connection with the reform of Local Government;
a reform which the Government, taking into account the long-standing rigidities and financial difficulties faced by local authorities, as well as the demand of Local Government Authorities, has made a top priority.
It is characteristic that the whole effort started in 2011 with the Study on the Restructuring of Local Government, which was conducted by the National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government of Greece.
I welcome the representatives of the Union of Municipalities and Local Government of Greece.
This was followed by the study of the National School of Government International of the United Kingdom in April 2014, as well as the study of the Italian company Notoria International, which was conducted on behalf of the Union of Cyprus Municipalities, in June 2014.
The Association of Cyprus Municipal Secretaries, made its own study and recommendations on the restructuring of Local Government in August 2014 and finally, Mr. Charalambos Koutalakis, professor and expert on the subject, delivered the Policy Paper for the review of the proposed reform of Local Government in the Republic of Cyprus in March 2019.
Following the above studies and given the Government's will to implement a reform that will primarily be a legacy for future generations, the three bills on Local Government Reform were tabled on 12 March 2020.
Bills that were the product of extensive consultation with all political parties, but especially with the Union of Municipalities, whose views were fully respected, satisfying a number of suggestions and concerns that had been expressed.
I will limit myself to the relevant announcement of the Union of Municipalities on 30 August 2021, entitled: "Local Government Reform is Urgent", in which it is stated verbatim:
"The Bills presented before the Parliament in June 2020 were the product of a long, sincere, consensual and particularly qualitative consultation between the Government and Local Government, with the aim of achieving a modern and Europeanized system of local governance in our country. We believe that now is the time for the Parliament to pass the relevant bills."
This is our common vision. As reflected in the statement of the Association of Municipalities. An important vision for the substantial strengthening of the developmental role of municipalities, following the model of most European countries and best practices, always aiming to improve the daily life of citizens, through the administrative and financial autonomy and self-reliance of Local Authorities from the Central State.
The important developments and the spirit of cooperation that prevailed in recent months on the issue of local government reform have allowed decisive steps to be taken towards the completion of this marathon At the same time, the new municipalities will also have financial autonomy, since, in addition to saving considerable resources through the mergers, they will receive a guaranteed state subsidy of 117 million euros
Moreover, you are well aware of the Government's interest through the projects that have been and are being carried out in each municipality, each community. We are talking about hundreds of millions of euros of projects that now address chronic problems that municipalities have had, and no one can disregard through and from these projects the interest. I recall that in 2017 the Government decided to write off debts of 174 million euros due to the poor finances of local governments. We are doing everything humanly possible within the financial possibilities of the state to give more humane cities, more functional cities, to give quality of life to the citizens and we care.
Recently, there has been a regression in what was considered as progress when the postponement of the electoral procedures to 2024 was voted for. It is unthinkable to insist on numbers that in essence will not bring reform, but deregulation. There are 30 municipalities today and the effort was through the studies to reduce them, so that through savings and administrative autonomy, which may have been of one degree in the first stage and then, through digitisation and cooperation, services to citizens could be upgraded. What is important was to reach the levels of local self-government of local governments as in every other advanced European country.
So my plea to the political powers is to escape from the kingdoms. I have the impression that under the present circumstances and the demands of the citizens we cannot afford to struggle about how the alpha party - and when I say alpha party, so as not to be misunderstood, whether it is called Democratic Rally or AKEL or DIKO or other parties - can have the pursuit of how to keep local kingdoms. What matters is how to empower municipalities when they have financial and administrative autonomy. This is what citizens are asking for. If we ignore what citizens want and try to multiply municipalities or minimize municipalities under consolidation by simply keeping some acquisitions, we will only fail to achieve what was the goal all along: serving citizens, demanding that they have a higher quality, better quality of life, but also seeing specific visions of mayors or city councils come to fruition. During the election campaign, each candidate for mayor promises many different things. How will they deliver them if they don't have the financial self-sufficiency, if they have to depend on central government to deliver some of the visions they promised voters? Therefore, it is in the interest of the whole and of the political forces who will ultimately be the ones who will be accountable if we fail to reform local government.
The Recovery and Resilience Plan foresees the release of 241 million euros.
If time passes and the funds are lost, it is not only these funds, but many others that will be lost for the benefit of the Cypriot people and the Republic of Cyprus in general.
Therefore, I make a last appeal, with all due respect to opposing views. Different opinions may exist, disagreements may exist, but what is always paramount is that the final decisions must be aimed at serving the whole, the local communities, and our country in general.
If I were to add anything else, I would take away from the single message: local government reform is urgent, here and now.
I have the impression that the discussions to date have shown that it is possible and feasible to pass local government reform on the basis of the government bill. It is not a dogmatic position. It is not a position because the government suggested it. After all, the Government got away with the original. It went from 14 to 17. The political parties came in at some point and wanted to increase the number of municipalities. Let us stick to what was the central agreement at the beginning of the consultation. The closest possible adoption of the number of municipalities based on the studies that the experts have done from time to time. Either we trust the experts or we trust our party benefits and party kingdoms.
It is something that all political forces must decide in order to finally end a pending issue that the country needs.
I can only wish you success in your efforts.
And I want to wish all the Cypriot people, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, that the coming year will be a year that will create conditions for peace to prevail in our land, in our homeland. To create the conditions for reunification, to create the conditions for liberation from the burden of occupation, which no longer concerns only the Greek Cypriots, but also the Turkish Cypriots. The conditions must be created, not because some people should give in to Turkey's current or long-standing demands, namely that we should recognise sovereignty or equality of status with the Republic of Cyprus before we enter into dialogue. These are neither conditions nor preconditions for creating the conditions for a dialogue.
What I have recommended to both the European Council and the UN Secretary General is - and the time has come if we want to create the conditions - to take some significant confidence-building steps that will begin to restore the climate of mistrust, and that is none other than to place the administration or protection of the status of the enclosed city of Famagusta under the United Nations in return, yes, the Tympos airport to be placed under UN administration, as long as the international regulations of the ICAO are respected, the protection of the FIR, the reopening of the port of Famagusta with EU supervision of customs and tariffs, allowing Cypriot ships to approach Turkish ports.
As far as natural gas is concerned, there is no need for any more of the convergences than the proposals that are translated into legislation, such as the national hydrocarbon fund, as was the proposal to open a trust account and deposit it when and if there are revenues in proportion to the population, for the benefit of Turkish Cypriots, and if Turkey recognises the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus, that Turkish Cypriots should have the right, even before the settlement of the Cyprus problem, to draw funds from that trust account.
These are measures that will help create a different climate, but at the same time the Turkish Cypriot community and Turkey in particular - which guides the current Turkish Cypriot 'administration', not to say that it did not interfere in the past by putting barriers to the negotiation - should realize that they have to adapt to the basis of a Cyprus solution as reflected in the High Level Agreements and UN resolutions.
I wish everyone a Merry Christmas full of health and especially that we can deal with the pandemic by adhering to the measures that the Government is necessarily adopting.
PIO
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PIO
