President talks up local government reform

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said on Saturday that the reform of the local government was “perhaps the greatest challenge in the history of the local administration in the country,” while stressing that the reform should be implemented as soon as possible.

Cyprus parliament has approved a reform of the local administration providing for the reduction of the 30 Municipalities of the island to 20 that will be formed after the merger of current municipalities and communities. The reform will be put into force on June 1 next year.

Speaking to the conference of the Union of the Cyprus Communities, in Limassol, Christodoulides said that the reform has “a certain timeframe from which we cannot deviate.”

“We should proceed with the reform as soon as possible, timeframes should be met and we have no other option,” the President stated, noting that the reform will be constantly evaluated and any possible problems will be discussed.

But he made clear that the "philosophy of the reform will not be altered."

President Christodoulides also highlighted the proposed creation of services clusters which will provide the communities the capacity to provide services by skilled employees, which cannot happen in the current state of affairs.

On his part, Constantinos Ioannou, Minister of the Interior described the reform as the “greatest institutional change in the map of the local administration, which creates a new state of affairs.”

“We have entered the final stretch,” he said adding that the Ministry in collaboration with the central advisory committee in collaboration with the temporary organs of municipalities and the Union of the Cyprus Communities continues to prepare the new operational framework governing the functioning of the local administration.

“To achieve the aim for a stable growth of the rural areas and the improvement of the living standards of the people living there, we need a strong and contemporary local administration, capable to respond to the modern needs of the citizens as well as the structures of a modern state,” he said.