With the achievement of convergences, the article-by-article discussion of the three bills of the reform in the Local Self-Government continued on Thursday in the Parliamentary Committee of Interior, as stated by the Chairman and members of the Committee. The debate on referendums and clusters begins next Thursday.
In his statements after the meeting of the Committee, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Interior, Aristos Damianou, said that the discussion of the three bills of the reform in the Local Self-Government continued today in the Committee of Interior, in the same atmosphere and in the same spirit of previous weeks.
“And I can only express my satisfaction for that. At the same time, because we had given the opportunity to the Ministry of Interior, the Union of Municipalities and the Union of Communities, to consult outside the meetings on a number of open issues, I must say with satisfaction and note that there have been further convergences on important open issues. he added.
An important element of convergence, continued Mr. Damianou, is the agreement reached regarding the distribution of budget revenues.
“A thorn, which was open for a long time and has now always been decided under the condition of political decisions as parliamentary parties, that a percentage of 60% relates to amounts from the collection of fees or charges in connection with applications for permits and approvals issued by the relevant bodies, will be paid to the relevant Local Authorities concerned by such applications. “Therefore, a significant financial lung is secured and at the same time a serious percentage is maintained in the Provincial Organizations so that they can also cover their operating expenses”, he noted.
As he said, there have been other important convergences “and I must say that in addition to the issues concerning the provincial organizations, a number of issues pending in the Law on Municipalities have been agreed and remain the few, known, open and controversial issues, which we will start discussing from next Thursday and which concern the referendums, the clusters – mergers and some issues of special responsibilities such as for example some issues concerning the management of the beaches “.
“I must say we are on the right track. I want to believe that we will continue like this so that we can finally lead in the Plenary Session of the Parliament three as many agreed bills as possible. Of course, with absolute respect for the separate positions and views of all parties, including of course the party I represent “, he added.
DISY MP Nikos Sykas spoke in his statements about a “climate of consensus and seriousness”.
“I want to express here the will of the Minister of Interior and his associates, because once again in a framework of understanding and conciliation but also preparation with the partners, the Union of Municipalities and the Union of Communities, we managed today to go one step further “going into the details that concern both economic issues and structural issues but also further rights, opportunities, obligations that concern our communities and our Municipalities”, he added.
As he said, “surely now we are getting into difficulties and this is where we will all be judged”.
“I am convinced that as the Committee on Home Affairs, as we have begun, we will continue, we owe it to the citizen, to the reform, to the Fund for Recovery and Resilience, but first and foremost to the good of this place,” he said, expressing optimism that the reform of local self-government will have a happy and positive end “.
DIKO MP Panikos Leonidou, in his statements, said that they continued today the discussion on the Bill concerning the Establishment and Establishment of Provincial Organizations in the context of the Local Government reform and added that the process has almost been completed.
“However, we have focused our attention on two essential issues. What concerns the composition and composition of the Council, the election of the President or not, the appointment, ie how this Organization will be governed with the participation of which bodies and which persons and on the other hand we have left issues concerning the transitional period, in “How will the advisory and final committee work, which will result in the implementation of this reform,” he said. He also added, “there are two or three more issues and with good will I believe that we will find the solution to finally lead to the Plenary and the adoption of this bill.”
He noted, at the same time, that the discussion on the Law on Municipalities has started again, where there are several open issues, which again with good will and responsibility will try to cover them as soon as possible.
Democratic Party MP Marinos Mousiouttas, in statements, said that as DIPA – Cooperation of Democratic Forces “we remain in our positions that the Boards of the 5 Provincial Organizations should either consist of a more flexible body of 9 or 11 members (including President), represented by the Mayors and / or some Common Mayors of the relevant Province – the Municipal Secretaries or Municipal Engineers, except the President or we adopt the mixed system approach, ie 5 or 6 appointees (including the President) and 4 or 5 to are represented by the Municipalities (eg Mayors and / or Municipal Councilors) and Communities (Common Mayors) “.
He also stated that his party's position is that the President of the Provincial Organizations should be appointed by the Council of Ministers for 5 years and be Executive to have the political and especially the technocratic responsibility of the implementation and action of the new Organization.
“The second part of the session began with the examination of the points of friction on the Bill for the Municipalities. “There were convergences on several issues but there were also disagreements which will be examined in the next session, a session during which both thorny issues, the referendums and the unions, will be discussed”, said Mr. Mousiouttas.
“We welcomed the position of our position for determining the terms of office of the Mayors, Municipal Councils, Communities and Community Councils, something that DIPA-Cooperation had as a matter of principle”, he said, recalling the proposal submitted by the party regarding the incompatibility for people who have office in all state offices.
Alexandra Attalidou, Member of Parliament for the Ecologists 'Movement – Citizens' Cooperation, said in a statement that “there is a great consensus in the Commission on the major important issues before us”. “Consensus is really needed, because without consensus we cannot move forward,” he said.
He also said that the economic crisis and the pandemic showed that the role of Local Government is very important “and we should solve the problems of the citizens with a positive agenda, such as through the powers that will be given to the Union of Municipalities, the Union of Communities, but and in the District Councils “.
“As an Environmental Movement, we want in all the decisions we will take to strengthen civil society, to strengthen all citizens who promote environmental protection and sustainability, to strengthen the infrastructure that will serve vulnerable groups, such as “People with disabilities, that is, access, mobility and all these things, which are in the green agreement and in all the new measures that need to be taken,” he added.
As he said, “but I have to underline a very big concern of ours, that with this reform we believe that the small parties will lose their voice, because when the big Municipality of Nicosia will have only 26 Councilors, you realize that the small parties either they will not be represented or they will be under-represented and this will take away from the pluralism that must exist in the Local Government “.
“Pluralism can only mean good because it creates the synthesis of opinions and we always come up with much better decisions. “But we will continue constructively in the examination next week until we hand over the bills so that the reform can proceed, which has already been too late to come to our place”, he concluded.
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