The course of implementation of the programs that are already running for the small mountainous Municipalities of the country, the needs and problems they face, as well as the development prospects of these areas, were discussed at the meeting. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with the 33 mayors of the Network of Mountain Municipalities, “The audience of the Highlanders”which took place at noon at the Maximos Palace.
At the meeting was presented their funding, totaling 375 million euros received by these municipalities (with a population of less than 10,000 inhabitants) from the Ministry of Interior (243.36 million euros) and programs of other Ministries (125.6 million. euros from NSRF, 6.05 million from Green Fund and 367 thousand euros from RDP Rural Development).
See in detail the presentation with the financing for the Small Mountain Municipalities.
“The purpose of today’s meeting is more to hear your concerns, your concerns and to be able to map a course of more stable cooperation, which will be able to turn possible disadvantages of mountainous Greece into our comparative advantages”stressed at the beginning of the meeting the Prime Minister who recorded the positions of the Mayors, acknowledged the difficulties they face and stressed the potential for development of their areas.
“We are a government that emphasizes deeds and not words and we want to finally make an account of the result and not of rhetorical ability”stressed at the end of the meeting Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who after referring in detail to each issue raised, proposed inter-municipal cooperation for the implementation of development tools available to Municipalities, even with the use of Integrated Spatial Investment plans, such as implemented by the Benu Commission in Northern Evia.
At the same time, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a very small working group, which within 6 months will prepare a master plan for mountainous Greece, which will be a road map usable by all municipalities.
Implementation of programs and development dynamics
During the two hours that the meeting lasted, out of the 33 Mayors who participated, 21 spoke, expressing their gratitude to the government for the cooperation that exists with the ministries and the immediate response and support to the issues they face.
At the same time, the Mayors referred to ways to stimulate and enhance the tourism product to cover all four seasons of the year, as well as the development potential of these areas that can attract, as permanent residents, even “digital nomads” and lead many to return to work in their place of origin.
Among the issues to be resolved raised by the heads of the mountainous municipalities of the country were the understaffing of their services, the lack of machinery to meet the needs of the mountainous terrain, the studies and preparation of projects, the road construction in their internal networks, the operation schools and health centers, 5G network coverage, the existence of even one bank branch at their headquarters, Renewable Energy Sources and energy costs, the decoupling of their funding from the population criterion and its connection with the They also occupy the institution of “mountainousness” with a legal framework that will separate the mountainous from the island municipalities.
“What is very important, apart from the funding and the numbers that we will present, is that all this encapsulates your great personal interest. And as for all of us in government, the love for the mountainous Municipalities of the country, because we do not single out large or small Municipalities. We see citizens everywhere, opportunities for our country to move forward. I will try to run the presentation as fast as I can. The big picture shows that there are various financial tools at our disposal for the first time in many years. A total of 375 million euros are available for various interventions from regular and extraordinary funding or development tools of various Ministries ” stressed o Deputy Minister of Interior Stelios Petsas.
“We, the small mountainous Municipalities, who can see us today in costume but wear a work uniform in our Municipalities, have communication with your Ministers and very good communication. And to tell the truth several projects which due to understaffing we may not be able to absorb. But I would like to share my personal experience, that a few months ago we had sent a letter, as the Committee of Mountain Municipalities of Greece, to Mr. Gerapetritis, to Mr. Skercos, to Mr. Kontogeorgis, addressed to you, Mr. Prime Minister, where we say that ‘indeed the problems of small mountain municipalities are not the problems of large municipalities on a small scale. They want another approach, they want a mountainous policy. ‘ And we invited, if possible, to have this meeting. So with surprise today I see this beautiful meeting with the presence of so many Ministers and in fact the competent Ministers on issues related to the mountainous Municipalities. “Mr. Prime Minister, the economy of the mountains is mainly the primary sector and we are trying to build a tourism product which will be a second stable pillar, so that these societies can live and develop.”noted the Mayor of Anogia and President of the Network of Mountain Municipalities “The public of the Mountain”, Socrates Kefalogiannis.
The issues mentioned by the Mayors at the meeting were also addressed the Minister of Environment and Energy Costas Skrekas, the Minister of Rural Development and Food George Georgantas, the Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy George Amyras and the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior Michalis Stavrianoudakis. The government still participatedthe Minister of State Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister of Development and Investment Giannis Tsakiris, the Deputy Minister of Digital Government, Deputy Minister for Special Digital Projects and the Land Registry Thodoris Livanios, the Deputy Minister and the Secretary General of Internal Policy Coordination Thanasis Kontogeorgis.
They took part in the meeting Mayors Thermos Spyros Constantaras, Epidaurus Tasos Chronis, South Kynouria Charalambos Lysikatos, Georgiou Karaiskakis Pericles Migdos, Central Tzoumerka Christos Hassiakos, Erymanthou, Theodoros Baris , Agrafon Alexandros Kardabikis, Viannou Minas Stavrakakis, Filiates Spyros Pappas, Northern Tzoumerkas Yiannis Sentelis, Dodonis Christos Dakaletsis, Zagori Giorgos Soukouvelos, Konitsas Nikos , Velventou Manolis Stergiou, Nemeas Konstantinos Frousios, Lassithi Plateau Giannis Stefanakis, Zagora – Mouresiou Panagiotis Koutsaftis, West Mani Dimitris Giannimaras, Agios Vassilios Giannis Tatarakis, Amariou Pantzalos Anagiotis Paschalidis, Kantanou – Selinos Antonis Perrakis and Sfakion Manousos Chiotakis.
The following is the entire introductory position of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis:
Hello. I came to listen to the messages you bring from our small mountainous Municipalities. Of course we call you small because of size and population, but you are too big, if one thinks about your importance, your social cohesion and of course the revitalization of the Region.
Before I was elected Prime Minister, I had expressed the view that our country should have a strategy for the mountainous countryside, which of course will be based and will have the main pillar of cooperation the representatives of our mountainous municipalities. And the purpose of today’s meeting is more to hear your concerns, your concerns – that is why we have here an important representation from the Council of Ministers – and to be able to map a course of a more stable cooperation that can turn possible disadvantages of mountainous Greece into our comparative advantages.
Stelios Petsas will then have the opportunity to speak and present to you in greater detail the projects that are being launched. Obviously, each of you knows your own, but you may not know the full extent of the projects that are launched in mountainous Greece through the “Tritsis” Program.
They are very important interventions – as at least I had the opportunity to run them – that improve critical infrastructure: sewerage networks, sewage treatment, many important rural road projects, interventions related to the quality of our schools, sports initiatives regarding sports infrastructure, investments related to solidarity, establishment of social grocery stores. I saw with great interest that several of the participating Municipalities have moved in this direction.
And of course a special care for our tourism. I firmly believe that the next challenge and the next great opportunity for our country is mountain tourism, the extension of the tourist season throughout the 12 months. We have corners of Greece that those who know them remain speechless and everyone wants to return. Many Municipalities participating in our meeting today have moved in this direction.
However, in order to develop our tourism product in an organized way and to protect our natural environment, which is now an inviolable term for any sustainable development initiative, we need better cooperation and better coordination.
I believe that we recognize the organizational and administrative difficulties of small mountain municipalities. And I want to congratulate you from the bottom of my heart because I know that it is not easy, under these conditions, with frequent staffing problems, to run your municipalities and to be able to meet the expectations of your citizens.
That is why I am ready to discuss and intervene in the institutional framework, so that we can in an organized way provide services that are useful to you horizontally, such as possibly a new waste management framework for small mountainous and island local authorities, which is tailored to your specific needs, with an emphasis on biowaste management, wastewater management, and the proper treatment of organic waste. And soon the Ministry of Environment and Energy will be ready to make announcements in this direction.
I ask you, therefore, not to limit this debate to the search for resources. There are important resources available, but to think that we can use these resources in a productive way and turn them into projects that will be very useful, so that our small mountain municipalities can become real protagonists of the changing Greece .
Let me close this brief introduction – and I will come back during the discussion and at the end, trying to codify the conclusions from this meeting – by reiterating how much I firmly believe in myself in the need for rural support. And as a person who loves the mountain very much, I have a special reason, a special personal interest to put into action ideas and plans that I had a long time ago about how we can support the mountain municipalities.
Now I think we have the capacity, the mood, the resources and the framework for cooperation to be able to do such political acts.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News
and be the first to know all the news
