It is my great pleasure and honour to be invited to attend this year's General Assembly and to address my own greetings at an important time for me, at the conclusion of my term of office at the Ministry of Interior.
I consider my presence at your Assembly to be a mark of appreciation for the work we have done together, both in the Free Community Councils and nationally in our occupied communities. Work of all importance, since you support the inhabitants in our rural, marginal and mountainous areas, making tireless efforts to address their problems, to improve their quality of life, for their progress and prosperity, and to define the conditions for the development of local communities.
Allow me to make a special reference to the very difficult and special role of our occupied communities, which have, among other things, the responsibility to keep unquenched the memory, the conscience, the perspective and the hope for the return to our beloved villages, which are also illegally held by Turkey as a consequence of the brutal invasion of 1974.
Dear all,
In the context of a modern human-centred state, the role of local government in the administrative system is of particular importance.
The steady development of the countryside and the improvement of the living standards of our rural population have been the overriding priority of the Anastasiades Government, which is why we have consistently and actively contributed to the creation of conditions that will keep residents in their villages, but will also attract urban residents to settle in the countryside.
We have a proven track record of supporting policies to tackle homelessness because we believe that the Cypriot countryside and its human potential is the living force of our country. Hence the insistence of the Ministry of Interior, the Urban Planning Council and the Planning Board that the preparation of the Akamas Local Plan should and must take very seriously into account, along with the protection of the environment, the well-being of the people living in the area. After all, a countryside without human potential that cannot prosper has no future.
Budget allocation
Guided by our firm position to support the countryside and revitalize our mountain communities, we have allocated an amount of €450 million over the three-year period 2023-2025 to support them through various actions. Development projects, implementation of housing projects, provision of financial assistance to residents of mountainous and remote areas, and we have rolled out a programme to allocate budget savings for the benefit of our communities for additional rural projects. The total cost of the projects being promoted for the period 2023-2025 in municipalities and communities across the country is remarkable and will amount to €632 million.Of this, €325 million will be for projects in urban areas, €236 million for projects in rural areas and another €71 million for projects in rural areas.
Rural Policy Statement
Along with all our development actions, the Ministry of Interior has rolled out the revision of the Rural Policy Statement and the Troodos Policy Statement, which also includes a series of targeted spatial policies for the development of mountainous areas.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
With my presence here, allow me to take stock of some of the work to our communities and all of you who staff them, represent them and work tirelessly for their well-being.
Restoration of monthly pension allowance - former community leaders
So I am very pleased to report that, after years of discussion, from 1 January 2023 there is full restoration of the monthly pension allowance paid by the Home Office to former community leaders, which was reduced by 25% from the year 2013 due to the financial crisis, as part of the reductions imposed on the salaries of all public and wider public sector workers.
Rationalisation-increase of the annual state subsidy of the Union of Occupied Communities
Rationalisation has always been a long-standing request of the Union of Occupied Communities. We have therefore increased the annual state grant to the Union of Occupied Communities of Nicosia in 2022 to €25,000 from €20,000 previously, while that of the Union of Displaced Communities of Famagusta doubled from €10,000 to €20,000 in 2022 and more than doubled in 2023 to €25,000. The Union of Kyrenia Occupied Communities already receives €25,000.
Restoration of monthly pension allowance - former community leaders of occupied communities
Also as of 1 January this year, 2023, following a recommendation of the Ministry of Interior approved by the MoI, a pension allowance equal to 50% of the corresponding allowance granted by the Ministry of Interior to former community leaders of communities in the free territories is granted to former community leaders of communities in the occupied territories. This arrangement applies to eligible community leaders over 60 years of age who are not in office and who have served at least 30 months in the office of community leader.
Local Government Reform
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This year's General Assembly finds you facing the biggest institutional change in the local government map since the establishment of the RS. The reform of local government that creates modern conditions. And it is with your significant support and creative cooperation that we have achieved it.
When I took over as Minister of Interior more than three years ago and having served for years in local government and as a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Interior, I had this vision and I wanted to see it become a reality.
As I leave this office, I feel both satisfaction and pride that, with the help of all parties involved, local government is now facing a new reality, which opens up optimistic prospects for the near future, in which local authorities will be able to better meet the expectations of citizens throughout Cyprus.
The perseverance and commitment of the outgoing Government in achieving this goal has been continuous and uninterrupted. The final result, following the changes introduced by the Parliament, may not fully meet the objectives we had set as an executive, but looking at the big picture and the wider public interest, we move forward in the belief that what will emerge from the new framework will be for the benefit of all citizens.
I would like to thank the Union of Communities that, despite some disagreements and different approaches expressed from time to time on a number of issues, you have stood by us with a sense of responsibility and commitment. The much-needed reform of local government is the result of a collective effort and we should proceed in the same way until its full implementation.
The new framework for the operation of local government, which certainly has a significant impact on the operation of communities, will be implemented with the holding of the next municipal and community elections, which are expected to be held in May 2024. Therefore, the intervening period should be fully utilized for the proper and timely preparation of the new entities and bodies to be established from June 2024. Whether they are called local clusters for the provision of services to communities, Provincial Self-Government Organizations or new municipalities.
With regard to the communities and the 30 new service delivery clusters that are being established, I would like to note that the first objective was, through the cooperation and synergies created by joint service delivery, to achieve what most communities on their own are not able to provide (due to lack of resources and human resources) and that is upgraded and efficient services to all rural residents, contributing to their development and upgrading.
Housing Schemes
Dear all,
If anything has characterised all our policies in the Home Office it has been our holistic rather than piecemeal approaches to all the issues we have approached. Because that is the only way you can maximise impact and efficiency.
So I could not fail to mention the housing schemes and benefits which, throughout my time at the Home Office, my colleagues and I have built, developed and improved in order to see them deliver and achieve our objectives. Objectives, which were none other than to attract, with incentives and increased benefits, people to the countryside, the mountains, the outlying and disadvantaged areas. The revitalization, the development of the target areas, but also the assistance to young families, especially those facing problems in acquiring their own homes, was the cornerstone of our plans.
We are proud that our package of plans was one of the main foundations in the building blocks of the Anastasiades Government's policy to reverse the image of depopulation and decline of our communities.
Personally, I am very pleased that these plans have been embraced by the citizens and since the day of their implementation to date, we have managed to help 951 families through the plans with financial assistance amounting to €34.2 million.And of course, before the end of the Anastasiades Government's term of office, we made provisions to continue the positive impact of the housing projects, with a new call for this year, obviously even more generous to our society. A notice even more improved than the previous ones, with a multiple of the appropriations available in the budget of the Ministry of Interior for this year at €20 million, up from €5 million, and €15 million, in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
I will not repeat the provisions, which were explained during the press conference we quoted last week. I will only mention that in the re-launch of the housing projects for the acquisition of owner-occupied housing, following your requests, we have made upgrades in certain outlying communities in the neutral zone or in areas with special geographical features due to their proximity to the line of confrontation. And I refer, of course, to the communities of Mammari, Deneia, Trulli, Athienou and Pyla. Also, the new, separate Grant Scheme has already been announced for the area of Strovilia, which is currently showing a picture of abandonment due to the "weakness" it faces in the area of licensing for building construction. Therefore, the new Plan grants, as an alternative, financial support for the repair of existing houses.
The aim of all the above interventions, which have already been approved by the Ministry of Justice since 8 February 2023, is to increase the population density of these areas.
With this year's corrective measures and benefits of up to €95.000, we are again demonstrating in practice that we aim to:
- increase the pool of beneficiaries for the acquisition of owner-occupied housing,
- certainly increase benefits, especially in some areas, thus giving more incentives to young people in particular to apply,
- add specific new areas that really need to be supported because of their abandonment,
- add specific new areas that really need to be supported because of their abandonment.
Subsidies
In addition, with the improvements to the housing plans in mountain and rural areas and the new subsidy scheme in Strovilia, we are also improving the issues of subsidy policy in order to respond to the needs of citizens, in a parallel effort to invest in the development potential of our territory on the basis of our holistic approach. For 2023, with regard to the support allowance for residents of mountainous areas, we exceptionally included 7 additional communities, those of Agios Ambrosios Limassol, Doros, Kapilios, Kedara, Limnati, Messana and Monagriou.
I am sure that these improved plans will also be warmly embraced by our compatriots and that you, the representatives of the local authorities, will be the pioneers of this effort, since you were actively involved in their design, improvement and development in their current form.
Dear all,
I would therefore like to thank the Union of Communities for the important and remarkable work it is doing in the field of local government. Special thanks to the President of the Union of Communities, Mr. Andreas Kitromilidis, for the excellent and productive cooperation we have had both between us and with the officials of the Ministry of Interior. Throughout this journey, with dedication, he promoted positions and suggestions aimed at the development of the communities and the support of their residents. I want to assure you that he is a President who is a fighter, committed to serving the interests of the institution with passion and rectitude.
Addressing each and every one of you, Chairmen and members of Community Councils, I would also like to express my sincere thanks for the tireless efforts you have made and continue to make, with only the best interests of the community you represent in mind. Rest assured that I have taken your views to heart, I have been privy to many of your suggestions. I am pleased that we have shared our common objectives, many of which we have achieved.
Therefore, as I conclude my term of office, I feel satisfied that in the time available to me I have done everything in my power to implement your visions and requests, always bearing in mind the difficult economic situation and the possibilities of the State.
I would also like to emphasise that the honour you have bestowed on me today, to honour me for my contribution as Minister of the Interior, is very special to me.
I take it as an appreciation which, however, resonates with all my colleagues in the Ministry of the Interior and which I would like to share with them.
I am proud of my colleagues, the Prefects and the staff of the Provincial Administrations and all the others who worked with us.
The Minister sets the vision and the goal but without the shitheads no project is implemented. Together we did it together and for that I especially thank them.
Along with my wishes to all of you for personal and family health and happiness, my wishes for a constructive AGM. of which I am sure that the results will again be beneficial to the people of the countryside, I want to assure you, as I conclude my time at the Ministry of the Interior, that I feel that I leave behind me in the field of Municipalities and Communities only good friends and brothers.
With many of you our relationship is not limited to the last three years.
With many of you our relationship is not limited to the last three years. It goes back at least 2 decades, either when I served as either a Parliamentarian or in Local Government.
I have said it several times, I will repeat it today. If someone were to ask me where I place myself among the 3 state offices I have served in (Local Government, Parliament and Executive) I would unreservedly and without hesitation answer Local Government. I have bonded with the institution, experienced and continue to experience your love, appreciation and humanity with which you have embraced me.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart and if at any time I have offended or upset anyone with any of my actions, along with my apology, I want to sincerely assure you that it was because of an overzealous zeal for what we serve.
(Ephys/NG)
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