The new Code of Local Government Code has been passed by Parliament, putting an end to the second round of local government elections.
Interior Minister Theodoros Livanos, speaking before the Plenary Session, stated that the goal was to put an end to a system in which “it was impossible to tell which provision was in effect.” In fact, as he noted, there was an article in the Kallikratis Law that had been amended 17 times—roughly every 11 months.
The new Local Government Code, which was passed by Parliament, consists of 6 books and 774 articles, incorporating 2,000 provisions that until now were scattered across various pieces of legislation. Among these are provisions from the Royal Decree of 1958 that had never been incorporated into the previous Code. At the same time, as the Minister of the Interior stated, a number of administrative procedures are being abolished or simplified.
In the same speech, Mr. Livaniou rejected allegations regarding the abolition of the second-round elections. “We’ve reached a point where we have 15% turnout in the second round. We’ve reached a point where the winner of the election receives fewer votes than his opponent did in the first round,” he said, referring to political squabbles during the campaign period.
“A tremendous imbalance in any revenue from the ENFIA property tax allocated to local governments”
Mr. Livaniou, speaking in Parliament , rejected the proposal by PASOK for a pilot program to allocate revenue from the ENFIA to local governments, warning that such a measure would create new problems and lead back to the current system of Central Independent Resources.
As he noted, based on the system proposed by Nikos Androulakis, Glyfada, instead of the 12.8 million euros it currently receives through the CAP, would secure 50 million euros, because its real estate has high commercial value. However, in 90% of Greece, for example in Agrinio, which currently receives 20 million through the CAP and would receive 12 million, the revenue would be much lower.
“It would create a tremendous imbalance that would have to be balanced by a mechanism leading to the CAPs. In other words, we’d go full circle and end up right back where we started,” he commented.
“Yes, unfortunately, the model is mayor-centric”
At the same time, he acknowledged that the model of local government remains mayor-centric. ““Yes, unfortunately, the model is mayor-centric. It is,” he said emphatically, noting that citizens know the mayors and regional governors but not the members of the councils.
Livaniou also referred to the increase in funding for municipalities through the CAP in recent years, as well as to the hiring of more than 9,000 permanent staff members at daycare centers and nurseries, which will take place in the coming weeks. “Every municipal center will have the staff it needs. And the capacity to accommodate, with a full staff, the children who are crucial to the demographic,” he noted.
