The passing of the reform bills is a historic milestone for local government and Cyprus in general. After a long and difficult process of more than 10 years, the government, parliamentary parties and local authorities have achieved with consensus and determination what we owed to the citizens. To create local authorities that are administratively and financially autonomous, with the capacity to provide quality services to the citizen.
With a milestone implementation date of May 2024, Cyprus now has 20 new municipalities resulting from the merger of 30 existing municipalities and 63 communities. The new modern model of administration of the municipalities is based on transparency and accountability, while the new responsibilities assigned to them enable them to manage various problems more effectively.
At the same time, the creation of 30 local clusters of Communities, each with a separate legal entity, significantly enhances the ability to provide services in our countryside as well.
We rank as one of the most important aspects of the Reform the unification of services at the Provincial level. More specifically, joint services for Water Supply - Sewerage, Solid Waste and also a licensing service are created, one in each province. The aim and objective is to facilitate procedures and better serve citizens by implementing the new horizontal fast-track permitting policies.
Yesterday's passing of the Reform is not the end, but the beginning of a process that initially goes through the two-year transition period until May 2024. A lot needs to be done. We need to continue to work together in the same consensual spirit. The extension of the terms of office of the existing Municipal and Community Councils, which we jointly agreed with the parliamentary parties last September, was intended, among other things, to serve precisely this purpose: to ensure a smooth transition to the new order and to take advantage of the experience of elected local government officials.
During this transition period, the Ministry of Interior is ready to assume its coordinating role.
We have already made the necessary arrangements to support the new entities by drawing up a roadmap and a comprehensive operational programme to implement the provisions of the draft laws in time.
We would like to thank the Associations of Municipalities and Communities, the Parliamentary Committee on Interior and the parliamentary parties, the Commissioner for Legislation and the Legal Service, the former and former Ministers of Interior Mr. Konstantinos Petridis and Mr. Socrates Hasikos, the current Director General of the Ministry of Interior Mr. Kostas Constantinou, the former and former Directors General of the Ministry Mr.Mr. Konstantinos Nicolaides and Mr. Cyprus Kyprianou, as well as the First Administrative Officer Mr. Antonis Economides and the First Administrative Officer Mrs. Kyriaki Demetriou for their decisive contribution to the completion of this great project.
(EFYs)
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