The main axes of the reform that will introduce the new Self-Government Code were presented by the Minister of the Interior, Thodoris Livanios, speaking at the 10th Regular Conference of the Union of Regions of Greece (ENPE), which is being held in Alexandroupolis.

The plan, as pointed out by Mr. Livanios, foresees that the Special Committee for the drafting of the Local Government Code – was established by the Ministry of the Interior and includes officials of the ministry, representatives of the local government, the judicial authorities, university representatives, the National Institute of Education, the KEDE et al.- will have arrived at the final text in five months from today.

“The goal is simple, to strengthen and strengthen primary and secondary self-government and to close a gap in this area that we have with several European countries, where regional and local self-government have much more powers and therefore much more resources “, said Mr. Livanios, noting that there is cooperation on a daily basis with mayors and regional governors, so that through the new Self-Government Code, all the issues that have been recorded and related to malfunctions can be addressed. He even welcomed the proposal of the president of KEDE, Lazaros Kyrizoglou, that the final draft of the Local Government Code, which the Special Committee will reach in March, be presented at a joint conference of ENPE and KEDE, in order to “discuss the text as a whole, as it will concern both degrees”.

“We will move towards a self-government which – in cooperation at primary and secondary level – together with the central state will create a real relationship of trust and a relationship of honesty, so that we can work for a better Greece”, emphasized the minister.

What will the Local Government Code include?

Regarding the content of the Self-Government Code, the minister stated that “for regional self-government, it includes something obvious”. “The regions currently do not have a Code, they do not have codified provisions anywhere. The core of the provisions is in Kallikratis in law 3852, the code of prefectural self-governments is partially valid, a lot of legislation that has been made since 2000 until today is also valid and the entire framework of financial management that comes as a legacy since the prefectural governments were non-elected”, he explained, adding that with the new Code “we have the opportunity for both levels of self-government at the same time, to open up all issues, from which are the regions and which are the municipalities -which will not change-, how they are elected the regional authorities, how is the governance, the large part of the responsibilities – there is a lot of work to be done, the part of supervising the actions, how this will be done both efficiently and quickly at the same time, the part of financial management, the part of regional development funds”.

Especially with regard to regional development funds, Mr. Livanios pointed out that the goal is to incorporate proposals into the new legislative framework that will help increase their absorption capacity. “We cannot afford to lose resources as a country, much less European resources. So, absorptiveness must be at the forefront of our targeting,” he underlined.

Analyzing the philosophy of the reform, the Minister of the Interior referred to the requirements on which the provisions of the new code will be based and which -among others- are “how we will combine speed with the assurance of both transparency and the management of public money, how we will go to a new modern framework of legality of the Regions’ acts, leaving what is in force today and going to independent services of legality supervision of acts […] How will they be headed by an Independent scientist with the necessary qualifications, who is selected by the ASEP so that they leave the Decentralized Commands, how will we ensure the speed of the legality check so that actions do not drag on for 5, 6 and 7 months and get obstructed to start projects, to execute decisions of the Regional Council, how we will use new technologies with a modern information system so that what needs to be checked for legality can be submitted electronically and ultimately checked even faster”

Furthermore, Mr. Livanios referred to the issue of the disciplinary system of elected officials, which, as he said, must be modernized. “We have identified serious problems that have existed. The self-righteous holiday should not be imposed. The proposal is to make a specialized judgment by a judicial council and not to have an independent position on a holiday, even often circumventing the presumption of innocence. We have to find a way to synchronize the controls from the central state that are done in the Local Government Organizations”, he noted.

He also pointed out the need for the diversity of the regions to appear within the institutional framework that governs the Regions, depending on the needs generated by the characteristics of each region, which are related e.g. with Polynesianness, rural population, large urban centers, etc.

New responsibilities in Regions and Municipalities

Regarding the issue of responsibilities, he noted that “what we can see are things at the regional level that should go to the regions and correspondingly what is at the local level to the Municipalities with active participation and with a second criterion which of the levels of administration they can exercise the authority better for the benefit of the citizens”, clarifying that “any authority that is moved will have a specialized operational plan that will also transfer the resources and personnel and other equipment that may be needed to exercise the authority”.

He also noted that “we must see in the Athens basin and the Thessaloniki urban complex certain issues that have to do with the metropolitan unity of these two areas, because there must be a continuity in certain things, which are of a supra-local nature within the metropolitan complexes of the country”.

“We have before us a golden opportunity, utilizing the experience of the last years of all of you to solve problems and difficulties that exist with a single philosophy and by closing questions of responsibilities, from who cleans the wells, which roads belong to the municipalities and which belong to the Regions, who are responsible for cleaning the streams and who do everything in what is called the Greek state. Because this will give us the possibility that the one who has the authority knows what to do and above all has the responsibility and the resources to implement it. Because if it’s a foggy landscape it doesn’t help at all. So, we are aiming for a strong self-government”, underlined the minister.

The new way of electing municipal and regional Authorities

The Minister of the Interior also referred to the proposal concerning the new way of electing municipal and regional authorities, pointing out that “it is a dialogue that takes place freely and with open fields, all issues are discussed and in order to avoid any surprises, the issues are raised in time, in a committee that includes, apart from the elected representatives, expert scientists”.

“The government made its proposals in time, having established two things. First, that the two-round system rather needs a change, because the abstention that occurred in the second round, e.g. and regional elections, was very large […] and the second is that the pathogens are known, which we all know about, but are almost never mentioned. And that is why we proposed a system of election in one round with the option of choosing at the bottom of the ballot and a second combination”, noted Mr. Livanios, clarifying that the proposed system will be discussed in the Special Committee in the coming days, in detail and with examples.

“It is very favorable that there are also four years until the self-governing elections, so it is very easy to have any discussion in time and without, for example, changing electoral laws on the eve of the elections,” he added.

Besides, at the beginning of his speech, Mr. Livanios congratulated Apostolos Tzitzikostas on his election as EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, stressing that “his selection and election and acceptance by the European Parliament with such an important portfolio is beyond great honor for him it is also a great honor for the local government”. On the occasion of the hosting of the conference in Alexandroupoli, he also noted that the upgrading of the Kipi border station will be auctioned in the coming days “and soon we will have a modern functional and efficient border station that will facilitate the entry of visitors to the country as well as goods and will make the Evros region the ideal destination even for a weekend tourism”.