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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the budget of the housing policy has tripled

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the budget of the housing policy has tripled

Insider / ΚΥΠΕ

The budget of the housing policy has tripled, said the Minister of Interior. Mr. Nouris, presenting the policy axes for 2022, spoke in particular about the reforms such as that of the Local Government as well as about the big problem of immigration for which Cyprus is, as he stressed, in a state of emergency with the increased flows from occupied.

In statements after the Commission, the Minister of Interior said that the Budget for 2022 can easily be characterized as developmental and extremely targeted, with a clear approach to support and the allocation of expenditures to the countryside and rural areas. As he said, the Budget is characterized by eleven axes of activities, in which important reform efforts stand out, such as the reform of the Local Self-Government and the housing policy with three times more expenses than last year and which has been embraced by the people.

Mr. Nouris said that he presented to the Commission all the various urban interventions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through development plans and incentives to decisively contribute to the urban development of Cyprus. An important part of our effort is the rapid licensing process that has been in place since October 2020 in terms of building a house and issuing a permit within a maximum of 20 days. This policy for much larger developments, up to 20 housing units, as he said, can be implemented from June 1, 2022.

“Of course, the licensing process is supplemented and completed with the discussion in the Committee on Interior, which we hope will be completed soon, for the licensing of large strategic investments in a maximum of 12 months so that those who choose to invest in our country know in advance that they will be licensed. “in a maximum of 12 months and not on indefinite schedules,” he said.

Regarding the asylum and immigration policy, Mr. Nouris said that he has answered many questions from the MPs and announced that it will be discussed in a wide meeting under the President of the Republic next Wednesday at the Presidential Palace.

He said that he has explained to the Commission the effort made of e-government and its expansion to all the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the performance has already been greatly improved in the Department of Urban Planning, the Land Registry, the Department of Immigration and many other Departments.

He said that he analyzed the expansion of the beach protection plan through the lifeguard service and under the Salamis Plan, which from the 1st of the new year includes all the provinces of the Republic of Cyprus, upgrades the services provided and equips lifeguards.

He also said that he explained to the Commission the very targeted effort of the promotion of the Center of Nicosia, which was left to wither for many different reasons. “There is now a clear drastic intervention by the Government either by moving the School of Architecture to the walled city, and much more by providing specific incentives in both the private and the wider public sector which are funded in the amount of 15 million euros. “through the Recovery Fund to be given to the construction of student dormitories,” he said.

He also referred to the presentation of the Ministry's policy on the control of associations and institutions, something that in recent years has been a permanent intervention and note in the Moneyval reports on corruption issues in the country. “Already, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has deleted 2200 such unions and of course we are examining the remaining applications, we are on a very good path for rationalization,” he said.

Mr. Nouris also mentioned that questions were answered within the Commission both in relation to the actions of the Civil Defense Service, the interventions in the issues of fires, the support of Greece in the last problems it faced. “In my last meeting with the French Interior Minister, I asked again for the discussion to set up an aircraft base in Cyprus to be used by aircraft for fire protection precisely because we want to be cautious,” he said.

Asked to comment on his statement within the Commission that “Cyprus is in a state of emergency for immigration”, Mr. Nouris replied that the Ministry of Interior is not effortlessly placed that we are in a state of emergency regarding immigration . “From October 1, we are facing a big wave of flows, all from the green line,” he said.

Mr. Nouris noted that on average we receive daily between 60 – 100 immigrants from points of the green line, all coming from the occupied obviously, and all coming from Turkey, either by air from Istanbul or from the southern Turkish coast. “It is precisely for this reason that our interventions at all levels are fully justified, whether the President of the Republic, or the Minister of Interior or Foreign Affairs, for the necessity of guarding the southern Turkish beaches by the EU FRONTEX service, but of course also the need for Turkey to comply, and for Cyprus, with its agreements with the EU on issues of detention of migrants, he said.

Asked about the green line and how far the range of “natural obstacles” is expected to reach along it, the Minister replied that “this practice will be implemented where and where it is needed to prevent flows”.

For her part, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Christiana Erotokritou, said that the amount for the housing policy has almost tripled, but at the same time the cost of securing housing has increased tenfold. “So, any increase in funds to have an impact on society and the problems it goes through must be in proportion to the cost of obtaining housing,” he said, and expressed the assessment that housing policy will not be able to meet the needs of society. “, he said.

On immigration, Ms. Erotokritou said that no policy can have a chance of success if it does not expand the framework of readmission agreements that the Republic of Cyprus maintains with third countries where the illegal immigrants come from. As he said, Mr. Nouris had stated before the Commission that this is a problem of the EU. However, he added, Cyprus has the largest proportion of the population of illegal immigrants and the Government should take care to expand these agreements.

Ms. Erotokritou also said that they raised with the Minister the issue of converting 20 organic positions of the Asylum Service into services of internal officials, and expressed the position that the Asylum Service should be staffed with people who are already in the Service and have knowledge, specialization and experiences in the field of Asylum, while at the same time it should be strengthened with new staff.

Policy axes and numbers

The reforms and policies of the Ministry of Interior are based on 11 axes: Local Government Reform, Housing Policy, Development Policy through Urban Planning, Reform of Urban and Building Licensing, Integrated Asylum and Immigration Policy. , in e-Government, in the policy of promoting the Center of Nicosia, in the National Plan of Security of Organized beaches “Salamis”, in the policy of control of associations and institutions and in the strengthening of the protection of the citizens.

The total budget of the Ministry amounts to 629.6 million euros, compared to 603.7 million in 2021. Staff costs amount to 90.2 million, operating costs to 67 million, transfers (Sponsorships to ATA, Semi-Governmental Organizations, T / C and Thera Fund, subsidies and housing projects) at 231.3 million euros, other co-financed projects and projects at 35 million, projects under construction at 135.4 million euros, loans at 20 million, fixed expenses at 50.2 million euros and other expenses 0.5 million euros.

The distribution of resources in 2020 in the Strategic Aspirations of the Ministry is as follows: 176 million relate to the implementation of development projects in urban and rural areas, 54 million in sponsorships to Municipalities, 20 million in loans, another 20 in return of professional tax, 18 million in sponsorships to Communities, 8 million for emergency projects and road lighting, 65 million for the implementation of targeted housing policy in mountainous, remote, minority and specific rural areas, 100 million for management of private and state real estate (expropriations, etc.), 75 million for the provision of housing for displaced persons and the management of t-t properties, 6 million for the prevention and response in cases of disaster and implementation of emergency action plans, and 88 million. to promote e-government, strengthen the oversight of Semi-Governmental Organizations and NGO Councils.

As for the revenues of the Minister of Interior, these are expected for 2022 to reach 151 million compared to 122 in 2021, while the implementation rate of the budget for 2021 was in October at 59% and is expected to rise to 89%. Last year the percentage was 88%.

Source: www.philenews.com

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