Direct financing with 5 million euros for the construction of the road from the Prespa Pass to the border with North Macedonia and the upgrading of the surrounding area of ​​the customs offices, Krystallopigi and Niki in Florina, announced the Deputy Minister of the Interior Theodoros Livanios during his meeting today with the elected officials of the Regional Authority during the second day of his tour in Western Macedonia. Mr. Livanios responded positively to the call of the Deputy Regional Governor for Infrastructure Haris Govedaros for the immediate funding and quick construction of the road, as the specific project is considered by the Interreg program, which fully finances the construction of the border crossing at the Prespa Pass, as necessary and necessary accompanying work for its smooth operation.

Commenting on the institutional issues of self-government Mr. Livanios announced that after the completion of the procedures for the formation of the HENA and KEDE bodies “we will proceed with the reform of the self-government code in order to make the operation at A and B level modern and functional». Referring to the road axes, the Egnatia road and the vertical axes that connect Western Macedonia with the rest of Greece, he emphasized that “distances have shortened significantly for visitors who wish to reach every corner of it, something that the region should take advantage of as well as municipalities.

He focused particularly on the issue of the demographic shrinkage of the region where the largest percentages appear in the PE of Grevena as well as on the issue of the fur manufacturing sector in Kastoria which is experiencing a major crisis due to EU sanctions on Russia since the latter’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Livanios pointed out that “an international market has been lost for Kastoria” while in order to curb the demographic problem he spoke of “important incentives that we should give to young people to stay in their place”. The Honorable Minister of the Interior received complaints from the elected officials of the Regional authority “about staff shortages such as engineers and social workers whose absence undermines the smooth operation of services”.

Earlier in the meeting he held with the mayors of Western Macedonia, the president of PED and mayor of Argos Orestikou Panos Kepaptsoglou, as the first of the requests of the municipalities, raised the issue of energy costs which today, as he pointed out, “is unbearable for the budgets of the municipalities” and asked for the contribution of the minister so that “there will be care of the state for the priority allocation of electric space to the OTAs and the connection of the electricity production projects with energy compensation”.

The Honorable Minister of the Interior closed his two-day tour of the PEs of Florina and Kozani late in the afternoon, with his visit to the facilities of a historic self-government organization, ANKO SA, which is one of the first development institutions created by the OTAs of the region in 1987.