Cyprus’ reformed system of local government is “better than the previous regime”, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Saturday.
Addressing a seminar on the matter in Lefkara, he said the old system of local government “no longer served its purpose or the people”, and added that the new system “can, in the long run, offer many more benefits”.
These benefits, he said, will aid village communities in better cooperating with district governments and municipalities, which, he said, will “improve everyday life for all of us, the end users of the reform.”
He was eager to point out that the reforms have not gone without hiccups, saying, “a series of weaknesses and gaps have been identified which, if we improve them, will give the project greater momentum.”
He said the government has now “identified these distortions” and “initiated proceedings to correct them”.
Speaking about the issues the government has identified, he said the number of municipalities in Cyprus “despite being reduced by 10, is still large”.
He added that “given that the mergers were not carried out based on population, the expected benefits of the reform will not be equal for every municipalities.”
Municipalities which merged with villages with small populations will see less benefits, while municipalities such as Nicosia, where four large municipalities merged, will “have significant savings in the medium term, economies of scale will be achieved, and by extension, residents will enjoy the reform’s multiple benefits,” he said.
To this end, he said, “the example of Nicosia should also apply to other municipalities, and the ideal number municipalities is something which must be assessed based on geographical, population, and economic criteria.”
Another issue he said he had identified is the “very large number of deputy mayors” and the fact that they were all offered the same salary, despite the fact that “specific duties and responsibilities were not defined”.
To amend it, he said, the government changed deputy mayors’ pay to be based on the population of the area of which they are deputy mayors – a change which he said will make the method of pay “fairer”.
He added that despite this change, “deputy mayors’ salaries remain high and the method of determining their pay will be further processed.”
“In addition, incidents of confrontation between mayors and deputy mayors have come to our attention,” he said, saying that they typically come about “either because the latter is sidelined or because they operate outside of the framework of their responsibilities.”
He said the source of this issue it that there are too many deputy mayors, describing the current figure of 93 as “an unreasonably large number”.
“It is necessary to drastically reduce this number through legislative regulation which will apply from the next term,” which will then be implemented after the local elections in 2029.
“Personally, I believe we should end up with one deputy mayor per municipality, who will of course have clear and specific duties and will strengthen the work of their mayor, and this is the direction in which we are moving,” he said.
He had last week faced criticism from Akel on the matter of implementing local government reform, with the party saying the government had “not shown the necessary fervour” in its efforts to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.
He said he was “surprised” by the party’s statements, adding, “without wanting to enter into any controversy, I would like to emphasise that this government, since the first day it took office, has prioritised the smooth implementation of this large reform.”
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