The elected mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Central Union of Municipalities and Communities.

In his statement he notes that the current and candidate president of KEDE “did not find a single word to say” about the exclusion of the municipal authorities from the new organization for the major urban regeneration projects.

“They will decide on our regions, four ministers, in our absence and in the absence of our citizens” he says characteristically.

Haris Doukas’ announcement

“We are at the beginning of an important five-year period. It will largely determine whether our cities, small and large, will be able to transform themselves in order to respond to modern challenges. To ensure a sustainable future for everyone and especially for the next generations.

It is a difficult journey, which, however, we all chose to do, serving the institution of self-government, which is every day closer to the citizen than any other form of administration.

To meet this challenge, bold reforms and a new roadmap for the institution are needed. We cannot march into the era of climate crisis, artificial intelligence and the fourth industrial revolution with tools from the previous century.

Our cities and villages cannot be drowned or burned, entire regions can’t change character, become touristic or desert. It is not possible for major social problems, such as those of housing or security, to take on explosive proportions, for our citizens to be the energy-poorest in all of Europe, for municipalities to risk losing the great challenge for energy democracy, and for municipal authorities to remain spectators .

The constitutional imperative for administrative and financial independence of the Self-Government, after about half a century, remains incomplete, when it is not blatantly violated. 2023 closes with yet another disparaging, almost hostile, sample of writing from the government to the Self-Government.

Yesterday, the MPs of the governing majority passed a law, which excludes the municipal authorities from the new agency for the major regeneration projects of our cities. They will decide on our regions, four ministers, in our absence and in the absence of our citizens. The current and candidate president of KEDE, supported by the ruling party, did not find a single word to say.

Those who stand with notions of subservience to central, centralized power are unwilling and unable to demand the changes required to meet our task. These require a new, strong self-governing movement, free from party unilateralism, that will cover a wide range of opinions and break barriers.

In the upcoming elections for the President and Board of Directors of KEDE, I declare myself present and nominate myself for the position of President.

I call on all the people of self-government to create a new self-government movement that will claim and support the big changes and reforms that our cities, our villages need, to improve the lives of the residents. Together we can succeed.”